IPL 2022: Mohammad Nabi is one of the most sought-after all-rounders as far as the T20I cricket is concerned. He is expected to play a crucial role for Kolkata Knight Riders in the upcoming season of the IPL.
KKR will kick-start their campaign on March 26 as they will take on CSK in the tournament opener at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Mohammad Nabi has a chance to create a record if he gets a chance to play in the first game against CSK.
If Nabi scored 4 more runs, then he would become only the fifth cricketer to score 5000 runs and take 300 wickets in the shortest format. Kolkata Knight Riders were the finalists of the previous edition of the IPL.
Despite a torrid first leg, they played really well in the second leg, held in UAE and made it all the way to the final. However, they lost to CSK in the high-voltage encounter.
KKR will look to avenge the IPL 2021 final defeat on CSK in the tournament opener. They engaged in intra-squad practice games earlier where they played really well.
Meanwhile, Nabi has already taken 302 wickets to his name in the shortest format. He needs to score only 4 runs to join four all-rounders who have accomplished this incredible double in T20 cricket.
READ MORE: Three players to watch out for in IPL 2022 opener
IPL 2022: KKR all-rounder Mohammad Nabi eyes big record against CSK
Notably, three players from West Indies and one player from Bangladesh have achieved the incredible double of scoring more than 5000 runs and taking more than 300 wickets in T20s.
Kieron Pollard has scored 11,427 runs and has taken 304 wickets. Dwayne Bravo has aggregated 6747 runs and taken 571 wickets. On the other hand, Andre Russell has mustered 6574 runs and bagged 354 wickets.
Last but not least, Shakib Al Hasan has scored 5872 runs and has taken 416 wickets. Meanwhile, Nabi will be looking forward to making a telling impact for the new franchise this time around.
Mohammad Nabi enrolled himself for his base price of Rs 1 crore at the mega auction. Kolkata Knight Riders went for the all-rounder and then purchased his services for the same base price.
Mohammad Nabi indeed has a lot of experience playing various T20 leagues across the world. As far as the IPL is concerned, he has played 17 games. He has scored 180 runs and has bagged 13 wickets to his name.
He has earlier represented Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. As far as T20Is are concerned, he has played 88 games for the Afghanistan cricket team. Overall, he has taken 74 wickets to his name.
Besides his bowling, he is also a handy batsman. He has scored 1539 runs in T20Is at a sensational strike rate of 142.2. Nabi has slammed as many as four fifties to his name.
