Northamptonshire Cricket County Club have signed the number one ranked all-rounder in the ICC T20 International Men’s rankings, Mohammad Nabi for the 2021 edition of the T20 Blast. Northants will be his third county, after previous stints at Leicestershire and Kent in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
The 35-year-old Afghanistan all-rounder brings a wealth of talent and experience of T20 cricket around the globe, having played in World Cups, the T20 Blast, the Big Bash, the IPL and more.
He has a formidable record in the shortest form of the game, having scored more than 4,000 T20 runs at a strike rate of more than 140, and also taken 267 wickets with his off-spin bowling.
He has featured in 78 T20 Internationals for his country amassing 1347 runs at an average of over 22 and strikes rate of 145.3. Along with that, the cricketer also has 69 scalps to his name at an economy rate of 7.17 an average of 27.1.
Nabi Was The Perfect Choice With His Power And Experience: Josh Cobb
Speaking about the signing of the Afghan all-rounder, David Ripley, Northants’ director of cricket, stated that the club is delighted to have a high-profile player in their squad.
“We’re delighted to welcome such a high profile T20 player as Mohammad Nabi to the club,” said Ripley.
“He has a wealth of experience from playing in so many global tournaments around the world and can completely turn a game with both bat and ball.”
Nabi, who played for the Leicestershire Foxes in the T20 Blast in 2018, said:
“I’ve always enjoyed playing the Vitality Blast in England and it will be exciting to play at Northamptonshire.
“Hopefully we can do well.”
Further Josh Cobb, the captain of Northamptonshire Cricket County Club welcomed Mohammad Nabi in the squad and is hopeful that his inclusion in the team will solve their problem of having a weak middle-order. In the last season, the club had also signed Tom Taylor who has decent numbers to his name while batting in middle-order in the domestic circuit.
“Nabi was our number one target for that role, so Rips [David Ripley] and the club have done a great job to get him. We’ve looked at our middle order as a bit of priority for us, so Nabi was the perfect choice with his power and experience.
“Along with bringing in Tom [Taylor] last year, we’re now looking pretty strong in that area. They’re both three-dimensional players, so they help balance us up a bit and give us plenty of options on the day.” Cobb said.