Sufiyan Muqeem sprinkled his magic against Zimbabwe in the 2nd T20I at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo to create an all-time record for the Men in Green. Playing in only his seventh T20I, Muqeem has shattered a historic 15-year-old record of former fast-bowler Umar Gul.
Muqeem tore apart the Chevrons’ batting line-up to register a famous five-wicket haul. He has become just the third Pakistani player to pick up a fifer in a T20I game and has registered the best-ever figures by any player from his country in the format.
The left-arm wrist-spinner gave only three runs in his magical spell of 5/3 in 2.4 overs and ran through the Zimbabwean attack in Bulawayo. His insane spell had an economy of just 1.12, a thing very rare in T20I cricket. The previous record for the best figures by a Pakistan player belonged to former speedster Gul, who had taken 5/6 in his 3 overs in a T20 World Cup 2009 game against England at The Oval.
Best figures by Pakistan bowlers in T20Is:
1 – Sufiyan Muqeem: 5/3 in 2.4 overs vs Zimbabwe
2 – Umar Gul: 5/6 in 3 overs vs England
3 – Umar Gul: 5/6 in 2.2 overs vs South Africa
4 – Imad Wasim: 5/14 in 4 overs vs West Indies
5 – Umar Gul: 4/8 in 4 overs vs Australia
Zimbabwe had opted to bat first after winning the toss in the second game. They were cruising along well at 37/0 after four overs but had a major collapse from that point. The Chevrons lost all of their 10 wickets for just 20 runs in 49 balls.
After openers Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani provided the hosts with a decent start, pacers Abbas Afridi and Haris Rauf took apart both the batters before Afridi got skipper Sikandar Raza. The spinners then joined the party and Muqeem ran through the line-up, taking five of the next eight wickets.
His fifer included wickets of Ryan Burl, Clive Madande, Tashinga Musekiwa, Wellington Masakadza and Richard Ngarava.
The 57-all out is Zimbabwe’s lowest T20I all-out total and the fourth lowest by a full-member side in the format. The lowest all-out total by a full-member team belongs to West Indies, who were dismissed for 45 in a clash against England in 2019. They were also dismissed for 55 against England in the T20 World Cup 2021. Afghanistan were dismissed for 56 in T20 World Cup 2024 semifinal against South Africa.
