Twitter Reactions: Mohammad Irfan produces T20 cricket's most economical spell

Barbados Tridents suffered their second defeat in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on Saturday, August 25, but their fans were overwhelmed by the performance of Mohammad Irfan. The Pakistani left-arm fast bowler bowled the most economical spell in the history of T20 cricket, taking 2 wickets for a solitary run in four overs against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Bridgetown.

The seven-ft-plus tall bowler still could not help his team win the game but his performance won hearts all over. Irfan bowled 23 dot balls and could have registered an unbreakable record but for the last delivery which went for a single. His two wickets included that of the opposition skipper Chris Gayle who fell off the very first ball of the innings and Ewin Lewis. St Kitts and Nevis, however, did not find it difficult as they overhauled the target of 147 with six wickets and seven balls to spare.

Earlier, Gayle won the toss and asked the Tridents to bat first. Riding a fifty by captain Jason Holder (54), the Tridents posted a total of 147 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs with Ben Cutting returning with the figures of 2 for 18 in four overs.

Irfan, who was chosen as the man of the match, bettered the performance of Chris Morris who had bowled at an economy rate of 0.5 for the Cape Cobras in South Africa’s Ram Slam in November 2014. Sri Lankan Chanaka Welegedara also produced a similar economy rate for Tamil Union back in April 2015. The 36-year-old Pakistani’s economy rate in the CPL game was 0.25.

Beat the bat 17 times

Besides taking the two wickets, Irfan beat the batsman a total number of 17 times and got the edge once as St Kitts and Nevis batsmen were clearly clueless on how to handle the pacer. But they were let off once Irfan was done with his quota and took control of the game. His efforts were ruined by the beating that bowlers like Steve Smith (37 off 2) and Raymon Reifer (24 off 2) got.

Irfan has played in four Tests, 60 ODIs and 20 T20Is for Pakistan with 108 international wickets. He last played for the Men in Green in an ODI in September 2016.

How the Twitter reacted to Irfan’s feat:

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