Two Asian cricketers, Rashid Khan and Haris Rauf, dominated the headlines in Australian cricket on Wednesday as they registered superb hat-tricks in their respective Big Bash League matches played on the day.
The first hat-trick of the day came at Adelaide during the match between Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Sixers. It was Rashid Khan who changed the momentum of the game in the hosts’ favour when the Sixers were cruising along nicely towards victory. They were 75 for 3 at the halfway stage while chasing a paltry target of 136 runs. That means they required just 61 runs off the next 60 deliveries to win the match. This sort of equation is something teams will take with both hands in T20 cricket. But the Afghan spinner produced a mesmerizing spell out of nowhere.
Rashid had James Vince caught behind on the fifth delivery of the 10th over of the Sixers’ innings first and then trapped Jack Edwards lbw on the very next delivery. Then he came back in the 12th over and cleaned up Jordan Silk completely off the very first delivery with a beautifully bowled googly to complete his hat-trick. Not only that, just two runs came off that over and the Sixers suddenly found themselves at a tricky score of 85 for 6 with just 42 deliveries to go and 51 runs to score.
The Strikers still went on to lose the match though. The Sixers’ lower-order turned up with their best to take their team to a thrilling victory. But Rashid bowled a fabulous spell of 4-0-22-4 nevertheless and showed why he is regarded as one of the best spinners in the world at present.
However, that wasn’t the only spectacle of the day as there was another special spell in store for the very next match of the day between Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder at the MCG. This time, it was Pakistan’s upcoming pace-bowling sensation Haris Rauf’s turn to show what he is capable of. He had already made quite a name for himself earlier in the tournament having claimed 10 wickets in his first three matches. And as things stood at the end of this match, he not only increased his tally of wickets but also registered a breathtaking hat-trick.
Rauf’s hat-trick came in the last over of the first innings when the Thunder looked all set to finish on a high. They had two set batsmen in Callum Ferguson and Matthew Gilkes batting at the crease but that didn’t matter much to Rauf. First, he had Gilkes dismissed of the second delivery of the over with a well directed bouncer. Ferguson followed next as he failed to deal with a deceptive off-cutter and ended up playing it on to the stumps. Rauf completed his hat-trick when he bowled a similar slower delivery to trap Daniel Sams lbw on the very first ball he faced. The Thunder could manage only one run off the next two deliveries and posted a total of just 145/5 on the board. Moreover, it was also the only run Rauf conceded in that over and thus finished his spell with excellent bowling figures of 4-0-23-3.
The Stars went on to win the match rather comfortably by six wickets and 13 deliveries to spare and thus concluded a memorable day of cricket in the Big Bash League. Rauf and Rashid are the second and third highest wicket-takers so far in the league this season. While Rauf has 13 wickets to his name at a scintillating strike-rate of 7.3, Rashid isn’t far behind with 12 wickets to his name at an excellent strike-rate of 12.1 as well.