Stats Analysis

Stats - Nawaz sets new benchmarks as Afghanistan sink to record low

Mohammad Nawaz enters the record books with hat-trick and five-wicket haul in UAE T20I tri-series final against Afghanistan

Sampath Bandarupalli
08-Sep-2025 • 4 hrs ago
Mohammad Nawaz celebrates with team-mates after sending back Darwish Rasooli, Afghanistan vs Pakistan, final, UAE T20 tri-series, Sharjah, September 7, 2025

Mohammad Nawaz celebrates with team-mates after sending back Darwish Rasooli  •  Getty Images

It was one-way traffic in the final of the UAE T20I tri-series, with Pakistan 75-run victors over Afghanistan after bowling the opposition out for 66. Here's a lookback with numbers.
66 - Afghanistan's total in the final is the lowest in a tournament final in men's T20Is, beating Norway's 69 all out against Jersey in the final of the 2024 Sub-Regional Europe qualifier Group B. Only three teams in all men's T20s have recorded lower totals in finals.
2 - Afghanistan's 66 is also their second-lowest total in T20Is, behind the 56 all out against South Africa in the semi-finals of last year's T20 World Cup. It is also the fourth-lowest total by any team against Pakistan in men's T20Is.
5 for 19 - Mohammad Nawaz became only the second bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a men's T20I tournament final after Papua New Guinea's Norman Vanua, who took 5 for 17 against Vanuatu in the final of the 2019 Pacific Games.
Nawaz is also only the third to take a five-wicket haul against Afghanistan in T20Is after Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in the Asia Cup and Sam Curran in the T20 World Cup, both in 2022.
3 - Bowlers to take a hat-trick for Pakistan in men's T20Is, including Nawaz. Faheem Ashraf against Sri Lanka in 2017 and Mohammad Hasnain also against Sri Lanka in 2019 are the others.
Nawaz is also only the third bowler to bag a hat-trick in a men's T20I final after Uganda's Elijah Otieno against Kenya in 2021 and Belgium's Khalid Ahmadi against Malta in 2022 (where ball-by-ball data is available).
15 - Wickets taken by spinners in Sharjah in the final, the joint-third-highest in a men's T20I match.
Pakistan spinners accounted for nine of them, the joint-highest by them in a men's T20I - they took nine against Hong Kong in the 2023 Asian Games.
20 - Number of wickets taken by Shaheen Shah Afridi in the first over of an innings in men's T20Is. Only Oman's Bilal Khan (22) has taken more wickets in the first over in this format (where ball-by-ball data is available).
7-0 - All the matches in the tri-series were won by the team batting first, a record. These are the most matches in a men's T20I series or tournament where all matches were won by teams batting first.

Sampath Bandarupalli is a statistician at ESPNcricinfo

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