Australia speedster Pat Cummins said that he had no idea he had accomplished the feat of becoming the second Australian bowler to score a hat-trick in T20 World Cups before it came on the screen. David Warner’s 34-ball fifty and Cummins’ hat-trick headlined Australia’s breezy 28-run victory over Bangladesh via DLS method in the rain-curtailed clash in the Super 8 match of the ongoing 2024 T20 World Cup at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Thursday (local time). The 31-year-old speedster scripted history in Antigua when he became the second Australian player and seventh overall to claim a hat-trick in an ICC T20 World Cup match.
The pacer, who returned to the team after a rest, 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 in 2007 — also coincidentally against Bangladesh.
The veteran pacer expressed his satisfaction at the post-match presentation for taking Hridoy’s wicket and limiting Bangladesh’s total to 140 runs.
“I had no idea, then saw when it came up on the screen. Set batter in, playing the innings, you never know how it’ll go about, so that was a big wicket (on Hridoy’s wicket) and happy to have restricted them,” Cummins said in a post-match presentation.
Cummins collected two quick scalps to end Australia’s 18th over and then removed Hridoy upon return to start over 20, completing the tournament’s first hat-trick. It capped off a strong fightback for Cummins with the ball, finishing with figures of 29/3 off his four overs.
The fast bowler spoke openly about the team’s bench strength, which comprises pacer Nathan Ellis and spinner Ashton Agar.
“Few hat-tricks in juniors, never for Australia. Ashton Agar and Nathan Ellis, on the bench, have hat-tricks and joined their club. It’s pretty awesome to tick that off. Good club to be part of,” he added.
The pacer stated that the team’s performance against Bangladesh was fairly polished, and their primary goal was to win.
“Fairly polished performance, the goal was to win and we did well with the run-rate, we’ll need to continue with the momentum going ahead in the Super 8s,” Cummins said.
The win propelled Australia to the top of Group 1 surpassing India on net run rate, and now the Aussies will meet Afghanistan on June 22.
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