 "Pat Cummins (third from left) celebrates after the dismissal of Gulbadin Naib during Australia vs Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup. AFP")
Pat Cummins picked up his second hat-trick in as many matches as Afghanistan let go of early momentum, building a 118 run opening wicket partnership, and had to settle for a total of 148/6 against Australia in their T20 World Cup Super Eight match on Saturday.
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Cummins made history in St Vincent when he became the first player to register a hat-trick in consecutive T20 World Cup matches.
The Australia seamer had picked up three wickets in a row over two overs against Bangladesh and the right-armer completed the feat again against Afghanistan when he had Rashid Khan, Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib dismissed in three straight deliveries.
It is just the eighth instance of a hat-trick in a T20 World Cup and the first time a player has achieved the feat on multiple occasions.
On Thursday, Cummins had entered an illustrious group of seven players to have taken a hat-trick at a 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.
The 31-year-old admitted he did not know he had registered the hat-trick during the Bangladesh match, Cummins revealed he was aware of what had occurred this time around.
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More Shorts“I remembered that one,” Cummins said during the innings break. “It’s crazy thát I have played 100-odd games for Australia and now I have got two (hat-tricks) in a row.”