Rashid Khan picks up a hat-trick in the CPL eliminator against Tallawahs

Afghan leggie Rashid Khan picked up a sensational hat-trick against Jamaica Tallawahs in Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on Wednesday. Guyana Amazon Warriors restricted the opposition to a below par total of 168 on the back of his excellent bowling. Eventually, they chased it down to knock the defending champions out of the tournament.

In the eliminator of the 2017 season, Warriors locked horns with Tallawahs in what was expected to be a mouth watering clash. Batting first the Kumar Sangakkara led side started well as Lendl Simmons took the advantage of fielding restrictions. Though wickets fell in the middle, they were sitting pretty at 116/4 with Sangakkara and in-form McCarthy looking to take the score past 180.

Afghan leggie wreaks havoc

Rashid Khan came into the attack in the 15th over having conceded 20 runs off his first 2 overs. But he made amends for all his shortcomings so far in the tournament. He bowled a flighted googly to McCarthy which induced him into a drive only to uproot his leg-stump. The leggie replicated it against the new batsman Jonathan Foo which left him befuddled and his off-stump went for a walk. Rovman Powell came in and he too received a googly and he didn’t read that either. Rashid pegged back his off stump as well and was jubilant after picking up a hat-trick. He left Tallawahs in disarray and Warriors were on top thanks to the leggie’s three near perfect googlies.

Sangakkara saw the procession from the other end helplessly but made sure his team posted a competitive total on the board. Warriors made light work of the chase as Luke Ronchi launched an assault on the Tallawahs bowlers. They never seem to recover from that Rashid Khan hat-trick and looked clueless on the field as well.

Their skipper Sangakkara appreciated the youngster’s efforts and conceded that Rashid’s hat-trick rocked them and that was the turning point in the game. Warriors will now face the tournament favourites Trinbago Knight Riders and would hope that the Afghan kid continues to run through the opposition batsmen until the mega finale.

Watch the hat-trick here: