Four players who bowled a maiden 20th over in T20Is

India recently completed a 3-0 whitewash in a T20I series against West Indies. In the first match of the series, India’s latest addition to the pace battery Navdeep Saini made a dream debut by picking two wickets in his first over.

He got rid of the two dangerous left-handers in Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer in two successive balls. Not only that but he finished the match with a maiden in the 20th over of the innings.

So, who are the other bowlers who have achieved this feat? Here is the list of four bowlers who have bowled the 20th over as maiden in T20I.

#4 Mohammad Amir vs Australia 2010

Mohammad Amir

Mohammad Amir bowled a maiden last over way back in 2010. Australia were taking on Pakistan in the sixth match of the 2010 T20 World Cup and Australia had won the toss and opted to bat first.

The Australian batsmen were in full flow as they smashed all the bowlers around the park as the scoreboard read 191/5 after 19 overs. The momentum was with the Australian team and so a 200+ score looked likely but Amir had different plans. Amir started on the perfect note as he got the wicket of Brad Haddin off the first ball. He dismissed Mitchell Johnson off the next to get two in two.

The wickets continued to fall as the next two balls saw two run-outs when the batsmen attempted to take a bye. Australia had lost four wickets in four balls and hadn’t scored a run yet. Shaun Tait missed the fifth ball and was bowled off the last one.

The over was a five-wicket maiden which included three wickets for Amir. It was a pretty strange considering that Australia were in a really strong position.

#3 Jeetan Patel vs West Indies 2008

Jeetan Patel

West Indies were playing New Zealand in the second T20I at Hamilton in 2008 when Jeetan Patel achieved the rare feat of bowling the final over a maiden one. Batting first, New Zealand scored a huge total of 191-9 in their 20 overs.

West Indies were never really in the chase as they required 37 runs off the last six balls. Jeetan Patel who had bowled only one over up till then was asked to bowl the last one. Dinesh Ramdin tried to launch the first ball into the stand and was dismissed.

Kieron Pollard too got dismissed off the third ball. Sulieman Benn just defended the last three balls and as a result, a maiden last over was bowled by Jeetan Patel.

#2 Janak Prakash vs Qatar 2019

Janak Prakash

Singapore was up against Qatar in the ICC World T20 Qualifier when Prakash bowled a maiden over of the last one while defending a target of 187.

Qatar needed an unlikely 35 runs off the last over when Janak Prakash came into bowl. Prakash bowled a brilliant over as the Qatar batsmen could only score one leg-bye off his over which is not counted in the bowler’s account. So effectively it was a maiden over by Janak Prakash to seal the deal for Singapore.

#1 Navdeep Saini vs West Indies 2019

Navdeep Saini

The latest name in this unique list is the debutant from India – Navdeep Saini. Saini made his debut for India in the first T20I and had a dream start as he picked up two wickets in two balls in his first over.

Saini was asked to bowl the final over on debut against a batsman like Pollard. Saini started off perfectly as he got his wide Yorkers right on target in the first two balls. He missed the mark on his third ball which became a full toss but Pollard was deceived in the pace as he caught plumb in front of the wicket.

After the dismissal of Pollard, Oshane Thomas couldn’t get a run in last three balls which resulted into a wicket maiden over for Navdeep Saini.