In T20 Internationals, a dot-ball is considered as gold dust in any game, and the icing on the cake is when a bowler bowls all six balls as dot making it a maiden over. The regular increment in T20I matches over the years have seen scoring rates going up across all the formats, and due to it the presence of maiden overs have become a rare sight in white-ball cricket.
However, in the shortest format of the game, there have been few bowlers who not only have bowled maiden overs but also they proceeded it in the last over of an innings. Sometimes, bowlers make the equation way too challenging as usually in the final over batsmen tend to throw everything they could to score runs.
Here is the list of four bowlers who have bowled the 20th over as maiden in T20 internationals:
1.) Jeetan Patel (against West Indies in 2008)
Jeetan Patel achieved the rare feat when West Indies were playing New Zealand in the second T20I at Hamilton in 2008. After opting to bat first, New Zealand scored a massive total of 191-9 in their 20 overs.
In response, the Caribbean side reached a situation where they needed 37 runs off the last six balls. Patel was asked to bowl the final over. Chasing the impossible target, West Indies’ batter Dinesh Ramdin tried to go for the full monty and attempted the first ball for a maximum, but he was dismissed at long-off.
Kieron Pollard, who was at the non-striker’s end before the start of the last over, came to face the next ball as while Ramdin’s shot was in the air, both batsmen changed their strikes. However, Pollard couldn’t score any run on the second ball. Then on the following delivery, Pollard went for the big-one but got out at long-off.
Then came tailender Sulieman Benn who failed to score any run in the remaining three balls making it a maiden over.
2.) Mohammad Amir (against Australia in 2010)
Regarded as one of the most skillful bowlers of modern-day cricket, Mohammad Amir is a household name in Pakistan. The left-armer is a quality bowler in death overs and back in 2010 when Amir was relatively young, he bowled a maiden last over against Australia in the 2010 T20 World Cup.
During the game, the Aussie batsmen took Pakistani bowlers to the cleaners and posted a humongous 191/5 on the scoreboard after 19 overs. The Kangaroo batters were clearly on the way to score 200+ runs as they had momentum with them, but Amir had different plans.
The Changa Bangial-born bowler started the 20th over with the wicket of Brad Haddin. He then dismissed Mitchell Johnson and bagged two wickets in two balls. The fall of the wickets for Australia didn’t just stop there as in the following two deliveries Pakistan produced two run-outs. Aussie tailender Shaun Tait missed the fifth ball, and then in the last delivery, his defence was shattered by Amir to claim a five-wicket maiden over.
3.) Janak Prakash (against Qatar in 2019)
Third name on the list is Janak Prakash from the Singapore team who achieved the special milestone during a game against Qatar in the ICC World T20 Qualifiers. A similar situation like the West Indies vs New Zealand game, Qatar needed an unlikely 35 runs off the last over.
Although Prakash did end up giving a single run in the over, but it came from leg-bye which is not counted in the bowler’s account. So effectively it was a maiden over. The all-rounder bowled the first three balls to Mohammad Rizlan who was unable to score any run.
In the fourth delivery, batsmen were able to rotate the strike as the umpire termed it as leg bye. The next ball brought a wicket for Prakash as he dismissed Iqbal Hussain. The last ball was faced by Rizlan again, and it produced no run.
4.) Navdeep Saini (against West Indies in 2019)
The latest name in this unique list is of Indian speedster Navdeep Saini who accomplished the landmark in his debut T20I game against West Indies in 2019. In fact, he had a dream start as he picked up two wickets in two balls in his first over.
Then, Saini was asked to bowl the final over, and he started off perfectly as his wide yorkers were right on the money. Saini didn’t allow power-striker Kieron Pollard to smack him. Although the right-arm pacer did miss the flow as he ended up bowling the third one a juicy full toss, but Pollard was deceived in the pace, and the ball struck his pads. Though the batsman was given not out by the on-field umpire. Indian, captain Virat Kohli went upstairs, and guess what, the decision was overturned.
After the dismissal of Pollard, Oshane Thomas came to bat, but he couldn’t get a single run in the last three balls which resulted in a wicket maiden over for the 27-year-old seamer.
