T20 World Cup 2021: 3 batters who won Man of the Match in a T20I facing 8 or less balls
Winning the Man of the Match award in an international match is the dream of every cricketer. The organizers reward the best performer of the game with that prize. Earlier, the batter who scored the highest number of runs in a match or the bowler who scalped the most wickets took the Man of the Match award home.
However, with the growth of the T20I format of the game, that trend has changed a bit. Now the decision makers focus more on the impact of a player's performance rather than seeing the number of runs or wickets.
A 10-ball 30 from a batter is much more valuable than a 50-ball 50 in T20I cricket. In some matches, a batter has even ended up winning the Man of the Match while playing less than 10 balls.
On that note, we will look at the three instances when a batter was adjudged the Man of the Match in a game where he played eight or less deliveries.
#3 Brad Hodge - 8 balls vs. South Africa, 2014
Brad Hodge, David Warner star as Australia beat South Africa by 5 wickets in second Twenty20 ndtv.in/1iBIZns
Brad Hodge won only one Man of the Match award in his T20I career for Australia. It came against South Africa at Kingsmead in 2014. The match was reduced to 7-overs-a-side, and the home side scored 80/1 in the first innings.
Chasing 81, the Aussies were down to 60/5. Hodge then scored 21 runs off eight balls, smashing one four and two sixes to take his team over the line. Brad Haddin supported him with a 4-ball 4*. Australia won the game by five wickets with two balls to spare and Hodge bagged his maiden Man of the Match award in T20Is.
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#2 Dinesh Karthik - 8 balls vs. Bangladesh, 2018
Dinesh Karthik played one of the most memorable cameos in cricket history during the India vs Bangladesh Nidahas Trophy Final in 2018. The Indian cricket team required 34 runs off the last two overs to win the title.
Rubel Hossein came in to bowl the penultimate over, where Karthik scored 22 runs. The equation was down to 12 off six. Soumya Sarkar started the over with a wide. Vijay Shankar failed to connect with a shot on the first ball before rotating the strike on the second. Karthik was on strike, with India needing 10 off four.
Karthik took a single off the third delivery. Vijay Shankar then smashed a four but got out on the next ball. Soumya Sarkar had five runs to defend off the last ball, but Karthik whacked a flat six and powered India home. Karthik won the Man of the Match award for his 8-ball 29*.
#1 Asif Ali - 7 balls vs. Afghanistan, 2021
Pakistani batter Asif Ali became the first player in ICC T20 World Cup history to win the Man of the Match despite playing less than 10 balls in a game. He accomplished the feat against Afghanistan during the 2021 edition of the mega event.
Ali was on 1*(1) when Karim Janat came in to bowl the penultimate over. The Men in Green needed 24 runs to win off the final 12 deliveries. Ali went berserk and smashed four sixes off the six balls bowled by Janat to guide Pakistan home.
He finished with 25*(7) and won the Man of the Match award for his four maximums. It will be interesting to see if Asif Ali's world record will ever be broken.