Flashback: The first bowler to pick back-to-back five-fers in T20 cricket

A batter would love to contribute towards his team if he can manage to roll over his arm and pick up a few wickets here and there. With part-time spin bowling, a batter can help his side in providing crucial breakthroughs, especially in the T20 format where opposing sides are always looking to score runs. Snaring a five-wicket haul is a special feeling for a bowler but for a batter, it is even bigger. South Africa’s Faf du Plessis has done this in the past in T20 matches.

Before making his international T20 debut, du Plessis became the first player to bag a five-wicket haul in consecutive T20 innings. In October 2011 in the Provincial T20 Challenge tournament in South Africa, he was playing for the Northern side took 5/19 in a four-over spell with his leg-break bowling against the Easterns. His side batted first and posted 158/6 in their allotted 20 overs in Pretoria. Du Plessis then bowled this brilliant spell to restrict the Easterns to 145/8 eventually clinching the match for his team by 13 runs.

A few months later in March 2012, he playing for Titans took five wickets for 28 runs in four overs against the Lions in the MiWAY T20 Challenge tournament in Johannesburg. Lions batted first and scored 163/7 in 20 overs with du Plessis taking five out of the seven wickets to have fallen. Though his team lost the match the star Protea player was adjudged with the Player of the Match award.

After him, only Ireland’s Craig Young has achieved this feat in the T20 format in the year 2017. With two back-to-back five-wicket hauls in the T20s, Faf became the first player ever to snare these hauls in consecutive T20 innings. This might be quite surprising and shocking for every cricket follower as du Plessis is always known for his pure batting skills.