It wasn’t exactly an ideal day in office for young Aayan Afzal Khan during United Arab Emirates’ opening game of the T20 World Cup against Netherlands in Geelong on Sunday.
Not only was the 16-year-old, who made his international debut only last month against Bangladesh, dismissed for 5 in his first outing in a global tournament, but the disappointment of the low score was compounded by a rather comical fall at the boundary rope on his way back to the team dressing room.
The Barmy Army, English cricket’s fan contingent, shared a clip of the teenager’s unfortunate fall in a tweet, the video having originally been posted by another user David T (@SportingTrade). Khan, who was caught by Tom Cooper off Fred Klaassen’s bowling, was back on his feet in no time though.
Though he didn’t succeed with the bat, Khan proved more than handy with the ball as he produced an economical spell of 1/15 from three overs, accounting for Colin Ackermann’s wicket as the Emiratis fought back admirably after being restricted to a below-par 111/8.
Khan, who hails originally from Goa, India, also became the youngest player in the history of the T20 World Cup at 16 years and 335 days, breaking Mohammad Amir’s record. Pakistan pacer Amir had made his T20 World Cup debut at 17 years and 55 days against England in 2009.
Junaid Siddique was the pick of the UAE bowlers with a haul of 3/24 while Zahoor Khan (1/11 from 4), Karthik Meiyappan (1/22 from 4) and Basil Hameed (1/7 from 1) also chipped in with valuable spells, taking the match to the very final over of the chase.
Wicketkeeper-batter Scott Edwards and Logan van Beek though, held their nerve at a time when the Dutch needed six to win at run-a-ball, and managed to guide their team across the line to collect their first points of the tournament.
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