Afghanistan all-rounder Karim Janat became only the second cricketer from his country to take a hat-trick in T20 Internationals during the first T20I against Bangladesh at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Janat picked up the wickets of Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed and Nasum Ahmed in the final over of Bangladesh’s innings. However, the host managed to pull off a thrilling two-wicket win to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Bangladesh needed six runs to win off the last over while chasing Afghanistan’s 155-run target. Miraz brought the equation down to two to win off five balls as he smashed a four through covers off the first ball of the final over.
Janat then hit back with three wickets in three balls to give Afghanistan hope. He bowled a back-of-a-length delivery to Miraz, who pulled it straight to Mohammad Nabi at midwicket. He bowled the next delivery short and wide outside off and Taskin managed to edge it behind to the wicketkeeper while trying to slash it hard. Nasum then got a top edge on a pull shot which was pouched safely by Fareed Khan at deep third-man.
With two needed off two balls, Shoriful Islam dashed Janat’s hopes of pulling off a miraculous win by cutting the ball behind point for a boundary as Bangladesh clinched a nervy win.
Janat ended with figures of three for 15 in 1.5 overs.
Rashid Khan, the current captain of the Afghanistan T20I team, was the first player from his country to take a hat-trick in the shortest format at the international level. Rashid hat picked up four wickets in four balls against Ireland at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun in 2019.
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