Vidarbha left-arm spinner Akshay Karnewar, who was not quite a renowned player in the Indian domestic circuit till yesterday, has now etched his name in the cricketing history books forever as he has become the first player ever to bowl 4 maiden overs in a T20 game.
Playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy plate group match against Manipur yesterday, Karnewar bowled a spell of 4-4-0-2 which was simply extraordinary and hard to believe for the cricket fans all around the world.
To bowl economically in a T20 game is still understandable, but to go through the entire 4 overs without giving away a single run is almost a near-impossible task that Akshay Karnewar pulled off.
Before Karnewar, it was the Pakistani left arm, fast bowler, Mohammad Irfan who held the record of bowling the most economical 4-over spell ever in T20 cricket. Irfan had conceded just one run in his quota of 4 overs while playing for Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 3 years ago.
Akshay Karnewar celebrated his world record with a hat trick today
Karnewar didn’t just stop with a runless spell against Manipur yesterday, he continued from where he had left off and took a hat trick in another game against Sikkim Today. If his yesterday’s spell was unbelievable, today’s spell of 4-1-5-4 was not too far away either.
What’s interesting about Akshay Karnewar is that he is an ambidextrous bowler, which means he can bowl both right-arm off-spin and left-arm orthodox spin. He was actually a right-arm off-spinner at the start of his career, but it was his coach who noticed his ability to throw with the left hand and advised him to try left-arm spin as well.
With Vidarbha having qualified for the knockout round of Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy now, a lot of people will be keeping an eye on Karnewar as he bowls against much stronger teams in the knockouts.
