Former Indian opener in awe of Shaheen Afridi’s record-setting opening over

Former Indian opening batsman, Aakash Chopra, expressed his admiration for Shaheen Afridi's remarkable achievement of becoming the first bowler to take four wickets in the opening over of a T20 innings.

This historic feat occurred during a T20 Blast game on Friday, where Afridi represented Nottinghamshire against Birmingham Bears.

After starting off with a wide, Afridi dismissed both the Bears' captain Alex Davies and Chris Benjamin for a duck on the first two deliveries of the over. Although he missed out on a hat-trick, he successfully got rid of Dan Mousley and Ed Barnard on the final two balls of the over.

Chopra took to Twitter to praise Afridi, particularly highlighting the "unplayable" deliveries delivered with great swing and pace, as well as the courage to bowl full-length deliveries.

“Yesterday, Shaheen Afridi took 4 wickets in the first over the innings…some of the deliveries were simply unplayable. Swing at high speed…and the courage to bowl really full," tweeted Chopra.

Yesterday, Shaheen Afridi took 4 wickets in the first over the innings…some of the deliveries were simply unplayable. Swing at high speed…and the courage to bowl really full. 👏 👏

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) July 1, 2023

Despite Afridi's impressive figures of 4-29 in four overs, his efforts were not enough to secure victory for his team in the match, as Birmingham went onto chase the 169-run target, courtesy of a brilliant 65-run knock by Rob Yates.