Naseem Shah becomes the youngest bowler to take a Test hat-trick

Naseem Shah’s whirlwind start to his International career reached its zenith on the third day of the first Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh at Rawalpindi Stadium when he became the ‘youngest’ bowler (16 years & 359 days) to bag a Test-match hat-trick. Shah unleashed the might of his skills against the hapless Bangladesh batsman to join an elite list of Pakistani cricketers who have bagged the feat, as magnanimous as a Test hat-trick.

The list includes champion left-arm bowler Wasim Akram, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and Mohammad Samii in 1999, 2000 and 2002 respectively, coincidently all against Sri Lanka. Shah became the first bowler in almost 18 years to take a hat-trick for Pakistan.

It all came to life for Naseem Shah during the 41st over of Bangladesh innings when the 16-year-old, in a skilful of fast bowling nipped out three on the trot.

The first victim was Nazmul Hossain Shanto whose defences were bamboozled by a sharp good length delivery that proceeded to jag back into the left-hander. The umpire had no hesitation in raising his finger but Shanto went for an eventual unsuccessful review.

The next one to bit was dust was Taijul Islam, who was comprehensively beaten for pace by a full-length delivery and was pinned right in front of the wicket.

If the first two wickets came off sharp incoming deliveries, the third one came off a full and wide delivery when lured skipper Mahmudullah for an ill-fated drive which was safely gobbled by Haris Sohail at first slip.

Pakistan in total control in the Rawalpindi Test

Bangladesh slipped from 2-121 to 5-124 in a matter of three balls. Mohammad Mithun too couldn’t stick around and was dismissed by Yasir Shah for a 12-ball duck.

The visitors slipped to 6-126 by stumps and are currently trailing by 86 runs. This was after the home side were bowled out for 445 in their reply to Bangladesh’s first-innings total of 233. Babar Azam racked up an imperious 143 while Shan Masood too chipped-in with a defiant hundred. Asad Shafiq and Haris Sohail registered half-centuries.  Abu Zayed [3-86] and Rubel Hossain [3-113] were the pick of the bowlers for the visitors.

Here’s the hat-trick:

Well done Naseem Shah. Brilliant bowling! What a great hat trick.
Full fast and furious and swinging; difficult to play!!#PAKvsBAN pic.twitter.com/pCnVUolwgq

— Malik Bilal 🇵🇰 (@bilalmk18) February 9, 2020