40-year-old creates history with fastest T20I five-wicket haul

Finland's Mahesh Tambe picked up the fastest-ever five-wicket haul in all men's T20Is against Estonia during Finland's tour of Estonia 2025 at the Estonian National Cricket and Rugby Field, Tallinn, on Monday (July 28). He took just eight balls for it, breaking Bahrain's Junaid Aziz's record of 10 from 2022.

Finland secured a five-wicket victory in the match (the third T20) to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Opting to bowl first, Finland restricted Estonia to 141 in 19.4 overs, with Tambe producing the devastating spell to run through the middle-order, claiming wickets of Steffan Gooch, Sahil Chauhan, Muhammad Usman, Rupam Baruah and Pranay Gheewala. He finished with figures of 5/19 in two overs after taking a fifer in just 1.2 overs.

Estonia's batting relied on contributions from Bilal Masud (26 off 24), Habib Khan (23 off 20), and a quickfire 23 from Sahil Chauhan, but they failed to build substantial partnerships and collapsed after a promising start at 71/2.

Chasing 142, Finland was steadied by Aravind Mohan's unbeaten 67 off 60 balls, anchoring the innings with crucial support from Faraaz Mehti Abbas (19) and Jordan O'Brien (18 off 11). Despite late strikes from Habib Khan (2/32), Finland crossed the line comfortably at 142/5 in 18.1 overs.

Fastest fifers (by balls taken)

8 – Mahesh Tambe (Finland) v Estonia, 2025*

10 – Junaid Aziz (Bahrain) v Germany, 2022

11 – Rashid Khan (Afghanistan) v Ireland, 2017

11 – Moazzam Baig (Malawi) v Cameroon, 2024

11 – Khizer Hayat (Malaysia) v Hong Kong, 2020