Rashid Khan makes cricket history with incredible double hat-trick

Rashid Khan has become the first player in cricket history to take four wickets in four balls in an international Twenty20.

The spin superstar notched the incredible double hat-trick as Afghanistan swept Ireland 3-0 with a 32-run victory in the third and final game on Sunday.

Mohammad Nabi’s 81 off 36 balls propelled Afghanistan to 210-7 after Ireland captain Paul Stirling won the toss and chose to field.

Kevin O’Brien top scored with 74 off 47 balls before falling to Rashid off the final ball of the 16th over.

Rashid (5-27) then dismissed George Dockrell (18), Shane Getkate (2) and Simi Singh (0) off the first three deliveries of the 18th over to complete the double hat-trick and restrict Ireland to 178-8.

The incredible feat was also the first time a spinner has taken four wickets in four balls in any international format.

Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga is the only other player to do it, taking four in four in an ODI in 2007.

O’Brien and Andy Balbirnie (47) had kept Ireland in the hunt when they pushed the total to 72-1 in the first six overs.

Nabi (0-28) put the brakes on Ireland’s charge by bowling a steady four-over spell before Rashid got the important breakthrough by having O’Brien caught behind.

“Feeling very good that if you’re not doing well with the ball, then you’re doing well with the bat,” Nabi said after winning both man of the match and series awards.

Earlier, Hazratullah Zazai, who had smashed 162 not out on Saturday, provided Afghanistan with another brisk start by scoring 31 off 17 balls.

But Boyd Rankin dismissed Zazai and Usman Ghani (13) in the fifth over before Nabi single-handedly took the total beyond the 200-run mark by smashing seven sixes and six boundaries in his brisk knock.

Rankin (3-53) claimed wickets but conceded over 13 runs an over as Nabi scored boundaries at will.

Nabi was caught on the edge of the mid-wicket boundary in the 18th over.

“We were in the game 10-12 overs into the chase and then we just lost some wickets,” Stirling said. “I think if you get in, you really need to go big.”

Afghanistan beat Ireland by five wickets in the first match before posting 278-3 — a world record for a T20 international — in the second match on Saturday for an 84-run victory.

A five-match ODI series between the teams starts Thursday.

with agencies