Australian speedster Pat Cummins on Sunday became the first player to take back-to-back hat-tricks in T20I history.
The right-armer achieved the feat against Afghanistan during the Super 8 match of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024.
Cummins would have had hat-trick and 4-in-4 in back to back matches in case David Warner didn't drop Nangeyalia Kharote catch.
Batting first, Afghanistan posted 148-6 in their allotted 20 overs courtesy fifties by openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran.
Gurbaz (60 off 49) and Zadran (51 off 48) become the first-ever pair with three century stands in a T20I series after nothing up 118 runs for the first wicket.
Pat Cummins led the charge for Australia at the backend of the innings after picking up another hat-trick. The pacer now has two hat-tricks in two back-to-back games and on both occasions it was across two different overs.
Cummins dismissed Rashid Khan, Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib to claim a hat-trick. Rashid was sent packing on the last ball of the 18th over, while Janat and Naib went back to the hut on the first two deliveries of the final over.
Cummins and Zampa claimed three and two wickets, respectively, with both conceding 28 runs in four overs.
Cummins also bagged a hat-trick in Australia's previous match against Bangladesh. He dismissed Mahmudullah and Mahedi Hasan on the final two balls of the 18th over and completed his hat-trick on the first ball of the 20th over after getting rid of Towhid Hridoy.
It was just the eighth time that a bowler has taken a hat-trick at a Men's T20 World Cup and the first time a player has achieved the feat on multiple occasions, according to the ICC.
Cummins is already a member of an elusive group of seven players to have bagged a hat-trick at a Men's T20 World Cup, with Brett Lee (2007), Curtis Campher (2021), Wanindu Hasaranga (2021), Kagiso Rabada (2021), Karthik Meiyappan (2022) and Josh Little (2022) the other bowlers to have done so previously.
While Cummins admitted he did not know he had clinched a hat-trick during the match against Bangladesh, the Australia pacer revealed he was aware of what had taken place this time around.
"I remembered that one," Cummins said during the innings break. "It's crazy that I have played 100-odd games for Australia and now I have got two (hat-tricks) in a row."
- Pat Cummins
