Flashback: The only seven-for in T20 cricket

Picking up five wickets in any format of the game is not the easiest of the jobs. In T20 cricket, where they can deliver only 24 balls, it becomes even tougher to snare as many wickets. But Colin Ackermann became the first and only player to achieve the feat of bagging not five, but seven wickets to register his name in the record books.

Born in the city of George in South Africa, he played his cricket for the Netherlands. The right-arm off-break bowler became the first and the only player to pick seven wickets in T20s. He got to the feat while playing for Leicestershire against Birmingham Bears in the Vitaly Blast competition on August 07, 2019.

His side batted first and posted a massive total of 189/6 in their allotted 20 overs. Ackermann scored only 4 off 3. Chasing 190, the Bears got tormented by Ackerman as he picked up seven wickets for just 18 runs at an economy rate of 4.50 in his four-over spell.

It also included 12 dot balls as the Bears had no answers whatsoever to Ackermann’s spin bowling. The visitors got bundled out for just 134 in 17.4 overs with Ackermann grabbing the Player of the Match award for his magical and memorable spell.

A total of 48 bowlers have picked up six-wicket hauls in T20 cricket but Ackermann is the only one with seven wickets to his name in an innings. He has appeared in 152 T20 matches and snared 73 scalps at an average of 27.60 and a strike rate of 22.9 with an economy rate of 7.23. His remarkable spell of 7/18 remains the best bowling figure by any player in 19 years of T20 cricket.