Bangladesh's Taijul Islam becomes the first player to take hat-trick on ODI debut

Taijul Islam

Debutant Taijul Islam picked up a hat-trick as Bangladesh spinners wreaked havoc in the fifth and final One Day International (ODI) of the series, at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, to dismiss Zimbabwe for 128 runs in 30 overs.

Taijul has become the first player ever to take a hat-trick on his ODI debut; in Tests, however, there are three players who have achieved the feat: England’s Maurice Allom (1930), New Zealand’s Peter Petherick (1976) and Australia’s Damien Fleming (1994).

The left-arm spinner is only the fourth Bangladeshi to take a hat-trick in ODIs, with the other three being Shahadat Hossain (2006), Abdur Razzak (2010) and Rubel Hossain (2013).

Taijul’s blows reduced the visitors from 120/5 to 128 all out in a span of just 4 overs. The hat-trick was spread over two overs: coming in to bowl the 27th over, the left-arm spinner picked up a couple of wickets in his first – Solomon Mire and Tendai Chatara (off the last ball) – and then returned to pick two more in the 29th over, that of John Nyumbu and Tendai Chatara. Shakib Al Hasan and Jubair Hossain shared 5 wickets between them.

The 22-year-old has already played 5 Tests and has an impressive record of 25 wickets at an average of 27.15.

Having won the first 4 matches already, the Mashrafe Mortaza-led side looks all set to clean sweep the series.