CRICKET – BAHRAIN pacer Ali Dawood delivered a sensational 7/19 in a 35-run win against Bhutan, securing the second-best figures in men’s T20I history, as reported by the International Cricket Council on its website.
The 33-year-old recorded his remarkable spell to become only the second bowler to take seven wickets in the shortest format of the game.
In the third fixture of their five-match T20I series against Bhutan, Bahrain set a total of 161 after batting first. Dawood began his spell in the third over of the innings and immediately made an impact, picking up two crucial wickets to leave Bhutan reeling at 11/3.
Bhutan held on after this, adding 67 runs for the fourth wicket but Dawood’s brilliant late spell crushed any hopes of a comeback for the hosts.
In the 16th over, he claimed three wickets, then followed it up with two more in his next over to complete a record seven-wicket haul. Bahrain went on to win the match by 35 runs.
Dawood’s 7/19 places him second on the list of best bowling figures in a T20I innings, behind only Malaysia’s Syazrul Idrus, who claimed an incredible 7/8 in an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier match against China.
Ranked behind Dawood are Singapore’s Harsha Bharadwaj (6/3) in Mongolia last year, Nigeria’s Peter Aho (6/5) in Sierra Leone in 2021, and India’s Deepak Chahar (6/7) in Bangladesh in 2019.
Dawood also leads his opening spell bowling partner to go on and become the highest T20i wicket taker in 2025, leading by 59 wickets in 36 matches with a strike rate of 12.29.
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