Watch: When Ross Taylor smashed 28 runs in one over of Shoaib Akhtar in ODI World Cup 2011
ODI World Cup 2011 proved to be the last tournament of Shoaib Akhtar's international career
One of New Zealand’s greatest batsmen, Ross Taylor, has decided to retire from all formats of the game after a 15-year long international career. This New Zealand summer will be Taylor’s last season in international cricket, after which he will probably only play franchise cricket.
Ross Taylor announced his retirement today on his official Twitter account. It was a career full of glory and disappointments in equal proportions, but Taylor’s biggest accomplishment at the international level came earlier this year when he won the first-ever World Test Championship (WTC) title with the New Zealand cricket team.
After having been on the receiving end of some brutally disappointing results in the finals of the world tournaments in the last few years, Taylor himself played a pivotal role for NZ with the bat against a very strong Indian attack in the WTC final and saw off a tricky chase in the 4th innings.
However, individually, one of the highlights of Taylor’s career was when he took apart cricket’s fastest-ever bowler Shoaib Akhtar in a World Cup game in Kandy 10 years back in 2011. Akhtar was at the fag end of his career back then, but he was still very quick.
Ross Taylor smashed 28 runs in one over of Shoaib Akhtar
It was a group game of the ODI World Cup 2011 between New Zealand and Pakistan, and Taylor had not got off to a quick start. He was batting at the score of 69 off 108 balls at one stage of the game before he just flicked a switch towards the end of the innings and got himself straight into the highest gear.
With a relentless boundary hitting exhibition, during which an over bowled by Shoaib Akhtar went for 28, Taylor ended up with 131 off 124 balls with 8 fours and 7 sixes to power New Zealand passed the 300-run mark, which eventually won the game for the Blackcaps.
Ross Taylor hit 3 sixes and 2 fours in one over of Akhtar and just completely turned the complexion of the game in New Zealand’s favor.
Shoaib Akhtar conceded 28 runs against Ross Taylor in one over which turned out to be his last International match ever 😂 pic.twitter.com/Sq68qb12u0
— ayaan. (@AyanMusk) December 30, 2021
