Srinagar: England pacer Saqib Mahmood has created history by becoming first ever England bowler and also first ever against India to bowl a triple wicket maiden over.
Mahmood who came into the England squad for the fourth T20I vs India had a dream start bowling triple-wicket maiden at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. Saqib Mahmood, dismissed Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma and India captain Suryakumar Yadav in his first over without giving away a single run. Samson managed just one run, while Tilak and Surya were dismissed without troubling the scorers. England got off to a terrific start after Jos Buttler won his first toss of the series and opted to field.
Mahmood became the first English player to bowl a triple-wicket maiden and the first from any team to do so against India in T20Is.
Samson, who was troubled by Jofra Archer’s pace and bounce right throughout the series, decided to hang back to play the pull shot without having any look at Mahmood and paid the price. He was cramped for room and ended up giving a simple catch to deep square leg for 1 off 3 balls.
India’s man-in-form, Tilak Varma, charged down the track and sliced it to the third man fielder to depart for the first golden duck of his career as Mahmood got two wickets in the first two balls of his spell.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav walked in to bat at No.4 and, unlike Samson and Tilak, decided to give respect to Mahmood. He played three dot balls from the right-arm pacer before chipping it straight to the mid on fielder off the last ball of the over.
The visitors made two changes to their side, with fast bowler Saqib Mahmood replacing Mark Wood and all-rounder Jacob Bethell coming in for Jamie Smith.