Twitter Reactions: Mohammad Irfan's dream spell goes in vain as the Patriots register another win

The match between Barbados Tridents and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots will be remembered for one spell. Irrespective of the result of the game, irrespective of the runs scored by the batsmen and all the other factors, Mohammad Irfan’s spell will go down into the record books as one of the greatest spells ever bowled in the history of T20 cricket.

This was one of the most intriguing spells bowled in T20 cricket during which he left the batsmen perplexed. Forget scoring runs, the Tridents’ batsmen even couldn’t get bat to ball in the first 23 balls that he bowled. On the last ball of his spell, a run was scored making his figures, 4-3-1-2. However, despite all these efforts, the Patriots still managed to win the game by 6 wickets.

Questionable changes in the batting order by Jason Holder

After being put into bat first, the Tridents came out with a different opening pair for this encounter as they benched Hashim Amla. Openers Dwayne Smith and Martin Guptill couldn’t really get going. They scored 20 and 19 runs respectively and at a slow pace. While it was expected that Steve Smith would walk out into the middle at No 3, skipper Jason Holder decided to promoted himself up the order. At this position, he did really well scoring 54 off 35 balls.

However, this move upset the positions of the other batsmen and they couldn’t really click. Shai Hope at his usual batting slot scored 26 off 24 balls. But, Smith, who came out at No 6 got out after scoring just 4 runs. The team ended up putting 147 runs on the board for the loss of 6 wickets, which was quite a below-par total. Anton Devcich and Ben Cutting picked two wickets each while Sandeep Lamichhane went wicketless.

How do you play Mohammad Irfan?

Although the Tridents posted a below-par total, what made it challenging was a dream spell from Irfan. He bowled four overs on the trot and squared up Chris Gayle right on the first ball of the innings. Lewis too was dismissed by him for just a solitary run. The other bowlers too were going decently as Brandon King and Devon Thomas played real cautious cricket.

Both added runs at a steady pace. But one over that was bowled by Steve Smith changed the complete complexion of the game. Smith who was the star with the ball in the previous game gave away 27 runs in one over making things easier. St Kitts scored 59 off 15 balls at one stage of the game resulting in Irfan’s efforts being wasted. Ben Cutting and Tom Cooper applied the finishing touches to the innings as the team won the game easily by 6 wickets.

Twitterati was bowled over by the spell that Mohammad Irfan has bowled. They also commended B King and Devon Thomas for applying themselves beautifully out there in the middle in crunch situations.

Here is how Twitter reacted:

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