“I had never before taken four wickets in my first over” – Shaheen Afridi expressed his emotions on blistering first over in a T20 Blast 2023

After picking four wickets in the opening over in the T20 Blast match against Warwickshire on Friday, Shaheen Shah Afridi expressed his feeling on record-setting first over and dramatic night at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.

Defending a target of 169, Shaheen has not had an ideal start as he conceded five wides off his very first delivery but he then bounced back and picked wickets on his first, second, fifth and sixth legal balls. However, despite his brilliant bowling his team Nottinghamshire lost the match by two wickets in a rain-affected match.

Shaheen Afridi on his rare feat in T20 Cricket

After the match, Pakistan star pacer who is currently playing for Nottingham in T20 Blast expressed his disappointment for losing the match and how he feels for becoming the first bowler in T20 cricket history to pick four wickets in the opening over of the innings.

Shaheen said:

“We deserved to win, but they played well in the last few overs after the rain. I had never before taken four wickets in my first over. Though winning the game would have been much better, it still felt amazing. We, unfortunately, came up short”

“The way the crowd supported me was truly heartwarming. While running in to bowl, it felt as if I was playing in Pakistan. I have formed strong bonds with my teammates here; it feels like a family. The rain changed everything. We couldn’t grip the ball properly, but that’s cricket for you—you can’t control the weather.

Watch: Shaheen Afridi’s four wickets in 1st over

Shaheen first dismissed Warwickshire captain Alex Davis on the golden duck as Davis failed to play Shaheen’s ledger-guided yorker and then clean bowled Chris Benjamin off the next one.

Watch the video here:

Afterwards, two singles were taken before Shaheen scalped two more wickets in the final two deliveries of that over. He gets his third wicket of the innings with the help of a stunning one-handed catch by Stone at covers, while Ed Barnard was dismissed on the very first ball, he faced another sensational yorker.

With this, he ended the brilliant first over on a score of seven for four and finished his spell with a bowling figure of 4/29.