New Delhi: Australian Pat Cummins became the first bowler across the globe to take two consecutive hat-tricks in T20 World Cups, the latest being against Afghanistan in a crucial Super 8 match on Sunday at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown. The Australian Test and ODI skipper dismissed Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan on the final ball of the 18th over before getting the wickets of Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib on the first two balls of the final over to achieve a rare target.
Earlier in Australia’s previous Super 8 match against Bangladesh, Cummins had dismissed Mahmudullah Riyad, Mahedi Hasan and Towhid Hridoy to register his first hat-trick in the mega event. Cummins instance is just the eighth time a bowler has taken a hat-trick in a T20 World Cup.
The Australian thus joins a elite list with Brett Lee (2007), Curtis Campher (2021), Wanindu Hasaranga (2021), Kagiso Rabada (2021), Karthik Meiyappan (2022) and Josh Little (2022) who have taken hat-tricks in a T20 World Cup.
Earlier, batting first, Afghanistan let go a brilliant start by Rahmanullah Gurbaz (60) and Ibrahim Zadran (51) to manage just 148/6 in 20 overs. Gurbaz and Zadran put together 118 runs for the first wicket in 15.5 overs before the Australians pulled back, thanks to Cummins and Zampa.
Marcus Stoinis broke the opening wicket stand by removing Gurbaz before Zampa took the wickets of Zadran and Azmatullah Omarzai to pull the brakes. Cummins then did the rest and etched his name into the history books.
“Yeah I remembered that one (hattrick against Bangladesh). Crazy. Played 100-odd games for Australia, (now) got two in a row. I thought they batted well. But I also thought we restricted the boundaries. They obviously ran well,” Cummins said during the mis-innings break.
“Overall, decent bowling effort. Not our tidiest day in the field. Happy with the total. Don’t know, it’s uncharacteristic (sloppy fielding). Maybe it was the lights. Didn’t change too much (the pitch). There was spin throughout, and a little bit up and down. Not the flattest wicket in the world, but also not a terrible wicket – there’s runs to be scored out there,” he added.
