Naveen ul Haq bowls 13 balls in an over, changes match on its head as Afghanistan lose to Zimbabwe

Naveen-Ul-Haq bowled a 13-ball, 19-run over which turned the tide of the match in Zimbabwe's favour.

Zimbabwe defeated Afghanistan in an absolute thriller at the Harare Sports Club Ground, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series with a last-ball victory over their visitors. In a match that went down to the wire, every run was significant, meaning a 13-ball over delivered by Naveen-ul-Haq in the run-chase had a significant impact on proceedings in Harare.

Naveen-ul-Haq bowled a 13-delivery over that changed the momentum towards Zimbabwe in the first T20I of their series in Harare.(PTI)

An extra seven deliveries in the over meant Naveen’s over, the 15th of the innings, went for 19 runs. It was an over that brought the equation down from 57 off 36 deliveries to just 38 off 30, simplifying matters for the hosts by a great degree.

In an at-times comical over, Naveen began with a wide, before bowling the first legal delivery of the over. He followed this up with a waist-high no-ball that Sikandar Raza hit for four. With a free-hit coming up, Naveen bowled four consecutive wide balls outside the off-stump, in an attempt to not give Raza anything to hit. Finally, the legal free-hit itself was hit for a boundary as well. On just one delivery, Naveen had essentially conceded 13 runs, having run in to bowl six times.

However, Naveen would find some success in this over, managing to dismiss Raza on the third ball of the over. Things wouldn’t get worse for Afghanistan, thankfully, as the rest of the over went for just three singles and another bonus wide.

Spinners set up thriller in final overs

Afghanistan would wrestle back some momentum, as the following over produced 10 runs and the over after that saw Rashid Khan give away just three runs, as well as taking two wickets including the set batter in Brian Bennett on 49. Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman bowled the following over, conceding only 4 runs and putting his team in the driver’s seat.

Naveen would then return for the 19th over, with Zimbabwe needing 21 runs in the final two overs. However, pace-on would provide more joy for the Zimbabwe batters: despite dismissing Wessly Madhevere, the Zimbabwe batters were able to score 10 runs off Naveen, although the Afghan pacer didn’t deliver any extras on this occasion.

Azmatullah Omarzai was left to defend 11 off the final over, but Tashinga Musekiwa was the hero, steering his team home in a tense final over.