This mystery spinner became the third Afghan cricketer to take a hat-trick in T20 cricket.
He claimed two wickets off the last two balls of the eighth over. After a long wait, Mujeeb Ur Rahman returned to bowl in the sixteenth over. This time, he took a wicket with the very first ball to complete his hat-trick, followed by another wicket on the next delivery.
Mujeeb completed his hat-trick across his third and fourth overs in the second T20 of the series against the West Indies.
He achieved the feat of taking three wickets in three consecutive balls in this format, becoming Afghanistan’s third cricketer to do so.
Rashid Khan was the first Afghan to take a T20 hat-trick, against Ireland in Dehradun in 2019. In 2023, Karim Janat achieved the same against Bangladesh in Sylhet.
Chasing 190 on Wednesday in Dubai, West Indies came out to bat. Mujeeb went wicketless in the first two powerplay overs, conceding just seven runs.
In the eighth over, Evin Lewis was out LBW to Mujeeb’s fifth delivery, and Johnson Charles was bowled by a googly on the very next ball.
In the sixteenth over, Mujeeb’s first ball trapped Brandon King at long-on, completing his hat-trick. Matthew Ford took a single on the next delivery, followed by Quentin Sampson being bowled on the next ball.
Mujeeb finished with figures of 4 wickets for just 21 runs in four overs. Afghanistan restricted West Indies to 150, securing a 39-run victory.
