Dealing deadly blows in the death overs, Pat Cummins picked up the first hat-trick of ICC T20 World Cup 2024 during the Australia vs Bangladesh, Super 8s match on Friday (June 21). Cummins ended with figures of 3-29 off his four overs at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua, West Indies. (Match Blog | Streaming | Scorecard)
Cummins' hat-trick was only the second (after Brett Lee) by an Australian at T20 World Cups, and the seventh overall at the 20-over showpiece. The Australia Test skipper has become the fourth Aussie bowler after Brett Lee (in 2007 against Bangladesh), Ashton Agar (in 2020 against South Africa) and Nathan Ellis (in 2021 against Bangladesh) to achieve the feat in T20 internationals.
Furthermore, Cummins' hat-trick was the seventh in T20Is against Bangladesh, which is the most versus any team in the format. Incidentally, middle-order batter Mahmudullah was one of the dismissals in three of those seven instances, which is a record in itself.
Cummins first cleaned up Mahmudullah off the fifth ball in the 17th over of the Bangladesh innings. He then had Mahedi Hasan caught at deep third off the last ball. The fast bowler returned to bowl the 20th over on a hat-trick, and got to the landmark by dismissing the well-set Towhid Hridoy, who scooped a slower ball straight to short fine leg.
Adam Zampa earlier kept the Bangla Tigers quiet and complemented Cummins' efforts nicely to help restrict Najmul Hossain Shanto's side to a 140-run total. Australian openers Travis Head and David Warner had kicked off the chase in right earnest, batting at 51 for no loss after 5.3 overs at the time of writing.
Earlier, Australia captain Mitchell Marsh won the toss and decided to bowl first. The toss was slightly delayed due to a light shower in Antigua, but the covers were promptly removed as the rain abated and play started on time.
Playing XIs
Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh (c), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das (wk), Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Shakib Al Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman.
