Rashid Khan becomes first bowler to pick up four wickets in four deliveries in T20I cricket

Afghanistan’s ‘Spin King’ Rashid Khan created history as he became the first bowler in the history of T20I cricket to pick up four wickets in four consecutive deliveries. The leg-spinner created the record in the third T20I of the three-match series against Ireland being played in Uttarakhand.

Rashid Khan picked up his first three wickets in the final three deliveries of his second over and the fourth wicket in the first ball of his third over. His victims were Kevin O’Brien, George Dockrell, Shane Getkate and Simi Singh; leaving the Irish batting order bamboozled.

His performances enabled Afghanistan to register a 3-0 clean sweep in the T20I series. Courtesy of his bowling figures of 5/27 and Mohammad Nabi’s 36-ball 81, Afghanistan won the contest by 32 runs.

Batting first, the Afghans registered a score of 210-7 on the board in their 20 overs. Their bowling attack then restricted the Irish to 178-8 in their innings.

Emulates Lasith Malinga’s feat

With his sensational performance, Khan emulated Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga’s feat of picking four wickets in four deliveries in international cricket. Malinga’s performance came in the 50-over format of the game during the 2007 ICC ODI World Cup against South Africa at Providence in Guyana.

Becomes 7th bowler in T20I cricket to pick up a hat-trick

With his hat-trick against Ireland, Rashid Khan also became the 7th bowler in T20I cricket to register a hat-trick to his name. This feat was previously accomplished by Brett Lee, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga and Faheem Ashraf.