NEW DELHI: Gambia’s Musa Jobarteh on Wednesday landed on the wrong side of record books as he delivered the most expensive T20 spell ever against Zimbabwe in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa Qualifier Group B match in Nairobi.
Jobarteh leaked a jaw-dropping 93 runs in his quota of four overs as Zimbabwe scored a record-shattering 344 for four against Gambia.
Jobarteh, who bowled the 2nd, 4th, 17th and the 20th overs, was smacked all over the park by the Zimbabwe batters, led by their skipper Sikandar Raza.
During his nightmare spell, Jobarteh was smashed for 9 fours and 8 sixes by the opposition batters and ended up with an economy of 23.20. In his spell, Jobarteh also bowled a couple of wides and a no ball.
Jobarteh now holds the record for the most expensive spell in T20 cricket.
In the T20 internationals, Sri Lanka’s Kasun Rajitha previously held the record, leaking 75 runs in 4 overs against Australia in 2019 while in T20s Mattie McKiernan, playing for Derbyshire, was hit for 82 against Somerset in 2022.
With their brutal assault on Gambia, Zimbabwe smashed the highest T20I score ever, surpassing Nepal’s 314, which they notched up against Mongolia in the 2023 Asian Games.
Amid the run fest, Zimbabwe’s skipper Raza also became the first ever batter from the country to notch up a T20I ton.
Raza finished on an unbeaten 43-ball 133 while Brian Bennett (26-ball 50) , T Marumani (19-ball 62) and Clive Madande (53 off 17) struck blazing fifties.
In the chase, Gambia were shot out for 54 as Zimbabwe won the match by a record 290 runs.