Shahid Afridi guides Hampshire to victory in T20 blast with a 4-wicket haul

Shahid Afridi started off his 2017 NatWest T20 Blast stint with a 4-wicket haul in Hampshire’s opening game of the tournament on Friday. Playing against the home side Glamorgan, Afridi recorded figures of 4/20 at Cardiff to play a key role in his side’s 22-run win while defending their total of 167.

Reece Topley struck twice in the first over for Hampshire before the Afridi menace on Glamorgan began in the 7th over. The retired international player struck twice in his very first over to dismissed Aneurin Donald and Kiran Carlson on consecutive deliveries. Donald had his stumps cleaned up by Afridi while Carlson was trapped in front.

The 37-year-old later sent back the Glamorgan’s captain Jacques Rudolph in his next over and completed the 4-fer dismissed Chris Cooke in his final over. He completed his 4 overs quota by the 15th over with Glamorgan reeling on 110/6 and still needed 58 runs to win from the last 30 deliveries. Graham Wagg tried to scare Hampshire with a 28-ball 50 but he could just take his side’s total to 145/9.

The 4-wicket haul by Afridi in this game was his 2nd in Twenty20 cricket for Hampshire as he picked up 5/20 in 2011 against Gloucestershire. Overall, this was Afridi’s 8th four-wicket haul in T20 cricket. Only 6 players have taken more 4-fers in T20s than Afridi.

Earlier, the home side won the toss and invited Hampshire to bat first. Michael Hogan removed the openers Rilee Rossouw and James Vince after the pair put on 52 runs for the first wicket by the 4th over. However, the visitors couldn’t capitalise the start as they crawled to 70/4 by the end of the 10th over.

From thereon, Hampshire recovered well to add 97 runs in the last 10 overs, thanks to a quick-fire 59 off 27 balls from Lewis McManus which included 5 sixes. He shared a 95-run stand for the 5th wicket along with George Bailey who played the anchors knock with 37* off 35 balls.

Here is the video of Shahid Afridi’s 4-wicket haul in the game:

What a start to #Blast17 for @SAfridiOfficial

He took 4️⃣-2️⃣0️⃣ in his first match of the summer pic.twitter.com/Moqz56uwLo

— NatWest T20 Blast (@NatWestT20Blast) July 8, 2017