Noman of Pakistan makes hat-trick history

 

Noman of Pakistan makes hat-trick history

Babar Azam, who was lying in front of the bat, sat with the catch. Alone. All the fielders around him, including the wicketkeeper, ran towards Noman Ali at the bowling end. Excited and jubilant, Noman also finished a short run and punched the air. Something that had never happened before in the history of Pakistani cricket.

Noman became the first Pakistani spinner to take a hat-trick in Tests with that catch by Babar off the bat of Kevin Sinclair. This incident happened on the morning of the first day of the second Test of the Pakistan-West Indies series in Multan today.

New Zealand off-spinner Peter Patherick took a hat-trick against Javed Miandad at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in 1976. Then in 2003, Bangladesh leg-spinner Alok Kapali took a hat-trick at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.

The last hat-trick on Pakistani soil before today was in 2020. Naseem Shah took wickets in three consecutive balls against Bangladesh at the Rawalpindi Stadium before the Corona pandemic.

Of the other four hat-tricks among Pakistani pacers, two were by Wasim Akram. Both were against Sri Lanka in 1999. Akram took a hat-trick at the Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka on March 14 after Lahore in the Asian Test Championship. The other two were by Abdur Razzak (2000) and Mohammad Samir (2002). The opponents of both these matches were also Sri Lanka.

On the day of the 38-year-old Noman's hat-trick today, no West Indies batsman could settle down at the wicket. The West Indies, which had gone from 38 for 4 to 38 for 7 due to the hat-trick, had scored 68 for 8 at the time of writing this report.