Nottinghamshire Outlaws narrowly missed out on securing a place in the quarterfinals of the ongoing T20 Blast following their two wicket defeat to Birmingham Bears on Friday. Despite Shaheen Afridi taking four wickets in the first over, the Outlaws failed to defend the 169-run total as Rob Yates anchored the Bears' chase of 169 with a 46-ball 65. However, Shaheen hogged all the limelight for his efforts in the first over as he bagged four wickets to give the Outlaws a dream start. The Pakistan pacer dismissed Alex Davies (0), Chris Benjamin (0), Dan Mousley (1) and Ed Bernard (0), respectively.
Shaheen trapped Davies LBW with a toe crushing yorker in the first ball of the second innings, befrore flooring Benjamin's off-stump on the very next delivery.
On the 5th delivery of the over, Shaheen got the better of Mousley, with Ollie Stone claiming a stunning one-handed catch. Shaheen then capped off his over with another stunning yorker to castle Bernanrd.
Shaheen's exploits have now gone viral on social media.
However, Shaheen's effort went in vain as Yates led the charge of the Bears with five sixes and three fours during his stay in the middle.
After his dismissal, Jacob Bethell (27) and Jake Lintott (27 not out) made handy contributions as the Bears chased down the total with five balls to spare.
Earlier, the Outlaws rode on Tom Moores 42-ball 73 to post a total of 168 on the board.
Notably, this was their sixth win on the bounce in the T20 Blast.