They often say T20 is a batsman’s game. You should have watched New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi’s spell on Wednesday in the BBL to witness it’s not quite so.
The lanky tweaker turning up for the Adelaide Strikers almost single-handedly ran through the Sydney Thunder batting line-up grabbing figures of 6/11 from his 3.3 overs. For his performance, he has also adjudged the player of the match.
Also, his 6 for 11 is the best figures by an Adelaide Strikers bowler in BBL history.
It was the Thunder’s who won the toss and decided to field on their home turf. The Strikers’ got going right from the beginning and managed to get to 178/5 after their 20 overs courtesy of Ben Dunk, Brad Hodge and Kieron Pollard.
Later, it was all about the Ish Sodhi show. The Kiwi first cleaned up Ben Rohrer and then the dangerous Carlos Brathwaite with a delightful googly.
He then effected a run-out and cleaned up the tail one by one to skittle out the Thunders for just 101 in 15.3 overs.
However, Sodhi’s magical figures were not enough to get him a place in the top five bowling spells in T20 cricket. Sportskeeda has a look at them in this piece.
#5 Phaphama Fojela 6/9
You might have problems pronouncing his name. But the South African cricketer is quite a bowler. The pacer was at his very best in a December evening in 2014 when he picked up 6/9 for Border against Easterns in a CSA Provincial T20 Challenge game.
The Easterns had the flip of the coin go their way and they decided to field. They did quite well with the ball restricting the Border side for just 138.
It looked like an easy chase for Easters but then Fojela had other plans. The right-arm fast bowler threw the first punch by sending back rival captain Johan Fourie and then he accounted for the likes of Siphamandla Dapo and Praveshen Chetty.
With the top order gone, Fojela quickly ran through the tail-enders too, bowling Easterns out for 96.
#4 Ajantha Mendis 6/8
The spin wizard from Sri Lanka who was probably the first ever to bowl the carrom ball picked up 6/8 in a World T20 game in 2012. It was a group encounter against Zimbabwe and after the toss, Sri Lanka were sent in.
Propelled by two sturdy 40s from Kumar Sangakkara and Jeevan Mendis and a 39 from Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka went on to get 182 from 20 overs.
In reply, Zimbabwe got off to a good start. But then Mendis gatecrashed their party accounting for their two explosive openers Hamilton Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda. He also sent back captain Brendon Taylor for zero and Elton Chigumbura. He was well supported by Jeevan Mendis who pocketed three wickets. Zimbabwe eventually fell short by 83 runs.
#3 Lasith Malinga 6/7
Now the WACA is known to assist fast bowlers since ages and Lasith Malinga used it to his full advantage in the 2012 BBL.
Playing for the Melbourne Stars, Malinga picked up astonishing figures of 6/7 as the Perth Scorchers batsmen had no answer to his pace and swing.
Batting first the Scorchers only managed a paltry 64 in 15.2 overs. Malinga had single-handedly destroyed the middle and lower order and grabbed the wicket of opener Marcus North. Ou of the seven runs that Malinga had conceded two were wides. He had an impressive economy rate of 1.75 after the innings.
In a rain-curtailed tie the Stars were set a target of 20 runs in 5 overs which they overcame without losing a single wicket.
#2 Shakib Al Hasan 6/6
Not without reason, Shakib Al Hasan is considered one of the best all-rounders in world cricket at the moment. Shakib has also been a regular in the various T20 leagues across the globe including the IPL and the Carribean Premier League.
In 2013, while playing for the Barbados Tridents, Shakib with his left-arm spin was quite deadly. It was a game against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel and Shakib started off by pouncing on the catches of both openers. He then started his trickery with the ball.
The Bangladeshi poster boy, picked up the wickets of Ross Taylor, opposition captain Dwayne Bravo and the dangerous Kevin O’ Brien. He also polished off the lower order in quick time bowling out the Trinidad side for just 52.
Shakib’s side won the game with four wickets in hand.
#1 Arul Suppiah 6/5
It was Friends Life T20 encounter where Somerset locked horns against Glamorgan in 2011 and Arul emerged as the hero of the game. Playing for Somerset Arul grabbed a six for giving away just 5 runs from his 3.4 overs.
The now 33-year-old came into bowl in the middle overs and struck almost immediately. The Glamorgan batting unit thereafter fell like a pack of cards as the left-arm tweaker weaved magic on them.
By the end of the innings, he had picked up astonishing figures of 6/5 as Glamorgan were bowled out for 98.
In reply, Somerset reached the target with 5 wickets and 21 balls to spare.
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