Tuesday was a record-breaking day in T20I cricket, as a bowler from Malaysia scalped 7 wickets in an international match for the first time . Malaysia’s Syazrul Idrus was breathing fire, as he picked up 7 victims from the Chinese batting order in their opening ICC T20 World Cup Asia B Qualifier contest.
It was a nightmare start for the qualification process for China, as they simply could not deal with Idrus’s in-swingers, even though the bowler is billed as a medium pacer. Remarkable as the feat is, it was only added to by the fact that all of Idrus’s wickets dismissed the batters bowled.
Idrus bowled a wicketless first over, but dismissed China’s opener Wang Liuyang with the first delivery of his second. The demolition job began there, as Idrus picked up another three wickets in that over, leaving China four wickets down inside 5 overs. He would return to complete his 5-fer within the powerplay, and would add on another two wickets in his final over, which was a double-wicket maiden.
It was simply a day where the opposition couldn’t handle the bowler, as Idrus ended with figures of 4-1-8-7. It was a brutal spell which included no wickets through caught outs or LBWs — a rarity, and a day Idrus will never forget in his life. There were a total of 6 ducks in the China innings, as no batter came close to entering a double digit score for their innings.
The final wicket of his spell saw Idrus break the record of best T20I figures, previously held by Nigerian Peter Aho against Sierra Leone, who had taken 6-5 while defending a target of 91. The record amongst Full Member teams stands with Deepak Chahar’s 6-7 against Bangladesh in Nagpur in 2019.
Thanks to Idrus’s fierce spell, China went from 12 for no loss to being folded up for 23 runs inside 10 overs. Despite losing both openers for ducks, Malaysia strolled to the victory inside 5 overs and got their Qualifying process off to the ideal start.
Malaysia are hosting the Asia B qualifier series against 4 other countries, and the winner of the tournament will book a spot in the Asia Qualifiers Finals, with a chance to make it to the qualifying tournament ahead of the 2024 World Cup. They couldn’t have asked for a better start, and Idrus’s record-breaking spell on this historic day might give them the momentum they need to enter the regional finals.
