Mumbai: While Pakistan cricket team fans are slamming Shahid Afridi for team’s insipid performance which saw them getting knocked out of the Asia Cup T20, pace bowler Mohammad Sami is also getting a lot of sack for his match-changing no-balls in the 19th over of the game against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Wednesday.
The veteran pacer was given the responsibility to peg back the hosts who required 18 runs from 12 balls to win the game and qualify for the final of the five-nation tournament.
Sami, though messed it up, as he leaked 15 runs in the over. It not only brought Bangladesh on the brink of victory but also crushed Pakistan’s hopes of defending the 129-run total and keep their chances alive to play in the final.
The 36-yeard-old pacer, who was recalled to Pakistan’s national team for Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty 20, conceded just three runs from the first three deliveries of the 19th over. But situation went haywire as Bangladesh went on to score 15 runs from the next three deliveries.
Sami bowled a no-ball on what could have been the fourth legitimate delivery of the over. While the free-hit did not cost Pakistan much, the remaining two balls, including another no-ball, went for eight runs.
Call it coincidence, Sami does not enjoy bowling against Bangladesh; more so, in Asia Cup. The Pakistani pacer had a rather dubious record of bowling a 17-ball over against the same opponent in the Asia Cup 2004 in Colombo.
Sami had then bowled seven wides and four no-balls in an over and leaked 24 runs in the same over which saw Bangladesh move from 1/6 to 1/30.
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