< >

Who would have predicted that: Shapoor Zadran 4/24 bags best figures by Afghanistan bowler on ODI debut

by Alastair Symondson & Cricket World Tuesday 14 July 2020

Afghanistan's Shapoor Zadran celebrates a wicket

©Reuters

In our feature series - Who would have predicted that? – we are looking back at matches where there were big upsets or extraordinary individual performances that turned matches on their head.

Shapoor Zadran starts his run-up quite close to the boundary, just like his bowling idol. When you look at his tall physique, black, shiny hair and his fascination with pace, no wonder his bowling idol is Shoaib Akhtar.

Match Summary

Netherlands 188 (47 overs) - Ryan ten Doeschate 58 (89), Mudassar Bukhari 38 (70); Shapoor Zadran 4/24 (10), Samiullah Shinwari 2/56 (10)

Afghanistan 180 (49.5 overs) - Noor Ali Zadran 34 (59), Samiullah Shinwari 27 (49); Ryan ten Doeschate 4/35 (9.5), Edgar Schiferli 3/36 (10)

Result - Netherlands won by 8 runs

Shapoor Zadran may no longer be among the first-choice pacers for Afghanistan but he remains one of the most popular cricketers in the country. Zadran made his debut for Afghanistan in an ODI against Netherlands at Amstelveen on August 30, 2009.

He was just 22 years old at the time and had only played a couple of First-class matches. In fact, he played his maiden First-class game just a fortnight before his ODI debut.

Zadran shone in his very first match, dismissing Alexei Kervezee to take his first ODI wicket, which was also the first one to fall for Netherlands in the first ODI of the series. Zadran went on to pick up three more wickets to end with figures of 10-2-24-4 as Netherlands were bowled out for 188.

Fall of wickets: 1-33 (Alexei Kervezee, 8.1 ov), 2-34 (Eric Szwarczynski, 8.3 ov), 3-46 (Bas Zuiderent, 10.1 ov), 4-52 (Tom de Grooth, 14.6 ov), 5-86 (Mudassar Bukhari, 25.2 ov), 6-133 (Daan van Bunge, 36.3 ov), 7-165 (Ryan ten Doeschate, 42.1 ov), 8-179 (Peter Borren, 45.1 ov), 9-179 (Edgar Schiferli, 45.2 ov), 10-188 (Jeroen Smits, 46.6 ov)

The pacer, standing at over 6 feet, did not get much support from his batsmen and Afghanistan were bowled out for 180, courtesy of a brilliant all-round performance from Ryan ten Doeschate (35/4 and 58 runs) as the team lost by 8 runs.

Zadran has played 44 ODIs for Afghanistan. At 33, he has an average of 36.95, a strike rate of 46.1 and an economy of 4.80.

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Ahmed Shah, 3.1 ov), 2-42 (Mohammad Shahzad, 11.5 ov), 3-75 (Nawroz Mangal, 18.6 ov), 4-77 (Noor Ali Zadran, 21.1 ov), 5-87 (Raees Ahmadzai, 27.1 ov), 6-97 (Mohammad Nabi, 29.4 ov), 7-152 (Asghar Afghan, 43.4 ov), 8-169 (Samiullah Shinwari, 47.3 ov), 9-180 (Shapoor Zadran, 49.4 ov), 10-180 (Mirwais Ashraf, 49.5 ov)

Teams

Netherlands - Alexei Kervezee, Mudassar Bukhari, Eric Szwarczynski, Bas Zuiderent, Tom de Grooth, Ryan ten Doeschate, Daan van Bunge, Peter Borren, Edgar Schiferli, Jeroen Smits (c & wk), Pieter Seelaar

Afghanistan - Noor Ali Zadran, Ahmed Shah, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Nawroz Mangal (c), Asghar Afghan, Raees Ahmadzai, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shinwari, Mirwais Ashraf, Shapoor Zadran, Hamid Hassan