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How Mohammad Nabi Mixed Muscle With Method To Break Dunith Wellalage With 5 Sixes

Jatin

Mohammad Nabi smashed 5 sixes off Dunith Wellalage [Source: @ACBofficials, @ayush_m255/x.com]Mohammad Nabi smashed 5 sixes off Dunith Wellalage [Source: @ACBofficials, @ayush_m255/x.com]

With a spot in the Asia Cup 2025 Super Fours on the line, Afghanistan were stuck in second gear against Sri Lanka in their final group stage match on Thursday. The Lankans had the screws on and then Mohammad Nabi walked in like a one-man rescue unit.

Final over, Dunith Wellalage with the ball and the game turned on its head. Five monster sixes, one no-ball in the chaos and a desperate dash that ended in a run-out on the last ball. It wasn’t mindless slogging. It was a veteran reading the room, picking his spot and swinging like a lumberjack with a calculator in his pocket.

The Situation That Set The Trap

Afghanistan had limped to 114/7 not long before the death. A par finish looked 140-ish. Sri Lanka had marshalled the pacers; Nuwan Thushara was superb earlier, Hasaranga had kept it tight. But resource management boxed them in.

With the quicks spent and Wanindu Hasaranga’s quota gone, the last over had to be Wellalage. A left-arm spinner to a right-hand power hitter and Nabi’s eyes lit up. Straight boundaries long-off and long-on were open enough, deep cover and cow corner were set but not bulletproof. If the ball hit the slot, it was leaving town.

The Match-Up Nabi Wanted

Against left-arm spin at the death, Nabi doesn’t sweep much. He goes old-school straight: clear the front leg, present the blade, hit down the ground. That angle kills the spin and shrinks the risk.

Wellalage’s strength is usually his stump-to-stump darts; at this stage, though, darts turn predictable. Once Nabi opened his hips and showed the full face, anything near the slot, wide or straight, sat up like a melon.

Why This Match-Up Mattered

  • Left-arm spin into the arc of a power right-hander.
  • Field long-off/long-on in place but back on the rope, distance, not angle, was the challenge.
  • Predictable release under pressure, fewer pace variations available to a spinner in the 20th.

The Mechanics Behind The Mayhem

This was technique with teeth. Mohammad Nabi stayed deep in the crease to buy a fraction more time. He cleared the front leg early, but his head stayed still. That let the bat travel on a high, clean arc with no hacks across the line, just straight-through contact.

Even the wide ones were dragged straight because his bat path was vertical and his base was rock solid. Pace on? He used it. Pace off? He created it.

Key Micro-Skills On Display

  • Depth in crease to read length and launch late.
  • Front-leg clearance to open both straight channels.
  • Head still, long lever to turn good contact into carry.
  • Shot discipline: no ramps, no risky sweeps.
  • Scoreboard note: the last over yielded 32 (6, 6, 6, nb, 6, 6, 1W).

Pressure Makes Or Breaks

This was a mental unspooling as much as a technical mismatch. Dunith Wellalage had shelled a catch earlier of Nabi; that memory lurks when the ball starts flying. After the first two sixes, his run-up shortened, release got tentative and lines drifted.

The no-ball was the tell: arm speed down, stride mis-timed. From there, he bowled to avoid the boundary instead of hunting a dismissal and that is when death overs turn into donation drives.

What Pressure Did

  • Nudged lengths from attacking to “please-miss” slots.
  • Stripped pace variation; everything arrived at hit-me tempo.
  • Froze field changes; there was no time to reset.

Muscle With Method Not Madness

It is easy to brand this a slugfest but it wasn’t. Nabi didn’t swing at everything. He picked straight lines because mishits straight still fetch you, while across-the-line risks ballooners. He targeted one bowler, not the entire attack, concentrating damage and minimizing exposure.

The Numbers That Tell The Tale

  • Nabi: 60 off 22, SR 272.72
  • Final over: 32 runs

Afghanistan finish: 169/8 instead of a probable 140s as momentum was injected, total inflated, bowlers energized

Even though Sri Lanka chased it down and knocked Afghanistan out, that over was a masterclass in end-overs batting. It changed the mood, it changed the math and it put the fear of the straight fence into every left-arm spinner eyeing the 20th.