Australia pacer Pat Cummins joins elite list with T20 World Cup hat-trick

NORTH SOUND: Star pacer Pat Cummins on Thursday (local time) scripted history in Antigua when he became the second Australian player and seventh overall to claim a hat-trick in an ICC Men's T20 World Cup match.

The pacer achieved the milestone during the match against Bangladesh in their Super 8 clash of the ongoing ICC T20 WC at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. The Australian speedster took three wickets in two successive overs to reach the milestone in T20 WC match against Bangladesh.

Cummins picked up two wickets from the final two deliveries of his third over and then completed the feat with the opening ball of his last over at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium when he had Towhid Hridoy caught at short fine leg.

The 31-year-old pacer now joins compatriot Brett Lee as the only Australian bowler to have taken a hat-trick in a Men's T20 World Cup, after the legendary right-armer achieved the feat too against Bangladesh in 2007. Cummins joins an elite company of only seven players to have taken a hat-trick in a Men's T20 World Cup, including Lee (2007), Curtis Campher (2021), Wanindu Hasaranga (2021), Kagiso Rabada (2021), Karthik Meiyappan (2022), and Josh Little (2022).

Coming to the match, despite Najmul Hossain Shanto's fighting 41 and Towhid Hridoy's blitz cameo of 40 runs, Pat Cummins' stellar hat-trick helped Australia restrict Bangladesh to 140/8 in their Super 8 clash of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Thursday (local time). For Australia, Cummins and Adam Zampa were the stand-out bowlers with five wickets among them.

Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, and Glenn Maxwell chipped in with one apiece. Only Towhid Hridoy (40 off 28) remained around in the middle and delivered some ferocious smashes to propel his team to the 140-run mark. Cummins concluded with 3/29 as Australia held Bangladesh to 140/8 in their first Super Eights match at the T20 World Cup.