Mashrafe Mortaza joins record books with four wickets off four consecutive deliveries

Hat-tricks have recorded quite often in the recent past in the International cricket and in major domestic matches but not four wickets in four balls. The achievement of four in four is very tough as it happened only once in International cricket and a couple of times in the first-class and limited-overs games. The Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza recorded this rare instance in a domestic one-day tournament on Tuesday to help his team to win a thriller.

Playing for the Abahani Limited, Mortaza was given the role of defending 13 runs in the final over in Fatullah against Agrani Bank. Abdur Razzak took a single on the first ball while Dhiman Ghosh, who scored a 26-ball 46 holed out on the 2nd delivery. Razzak tried to go against Mortaza’s off-cutter and paid the price on the very next delivery. The Bangladesh captain registered his maiden hat-trick in his professional cricket by sending back Shafiul Islam.

He made the occasion even more special by dismissing the final man standing Fazle Rabby on the penultimate delivery. Thus, the 34-year-old became the first Bangladesh player to take four wickets with four balls in a List A game and overall the 8th bowler with the feat in this format. This was also the first such instance in the last two years in a professional game. Prior to these two years, four in four was recorded as many as eight times in a three-year span in any format.

However, Mortaza is not the first Bangladesh player to take four wickets in four balls in a professional game. Al-Amin Hossain took four wickets in four consecutive balls for UCB Bangladesh Cricket Board XI team in the Domestic T20 tournament on the Boxing Day in 2013. He took four wickets with the last four deliveries of Abahani Limited’s innings. Mahmudullah was the other player with this rare feat which he achieved in the 2014 Bangladesh’s Zonal first-class competition.

He took two wickets with his last two balls of the North Zone team’s first innings and then two in two with the first two balls he bowled in the 2nd innings. However, the Central Zone skipper couldn’t help his team to a win as they fell short of the target by 51 runs. Mahmudullah also scored an unbeaten hundred in the first innings of this game. He recorded his four wickets in four balls at the Savar ground about five months after Al-Amin’s feat in a T20 game.

Players with four wickets in four consecutive deliveries in List A cricket:

(Stats as on March 6, 2018)