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Mujeeb took 4 wickets (Photo: ACB)

AFG vs WI, 1st T20I: T20 World Cup is round the corner. In such a situation, all the teams are finalizing their preparations by playing a series with someone or the other. India is playing with New Zealand. Sri Lanka and England are face to face. Australia team is clashing with Pakistan and similarly Afghanistan and West Indies are clashing in Dubai. On January 21, the first T20 match of the series was played between these two teams, in which Afghanistan defeated West Indies. Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, who wrote the script of West Indies' defeat and Afghanistan's victory, completed a hat-trick in the match and gave a spectacle that was seen after 920 days in T20 International.

How did Mujeeb-ur-Rahman wait for 42 balls?

Mujeeb-ur-Rahman took hat-tricks in the first T20 match against West Indies. But before completing that hat-trick he had to wait for 42 balls. Now you might be wondering how? So it happened that Mujeeb-ur-Rehman did not take their hat-trick by taking 3 consecutive wickets in a single over. Rather, to achieve this success he had to take two overs.

He took his first two wickets on the last two balls of the 8th over of West Indies' innings. He first dismissed Evin Lewis and then Johnson Charles. After this, Mujeeb had to wait for the 16th over of the West Indies innings to bowl the hat-trick ball. Meaning, Mujeeb did not bowl from the 9th to the 15th over.

Mujeeb took a hat-trick when he came to bowl his third and 16th over of West Indies' innings. He completed his hat-trick by dismissing Brendan King on the first ball of that over. In the same over, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman took another victim leaving one ball behind, i.e. on the third ball. This time he made Sampson walk.

This happened after 920 days

Mujeeb-ur-Rahman defended the target of 189 runs with a hat-trick and killed a total of 4 West Indies batsmen. He took 4 wickets for 21 runs in 4 overs. This has happened after 920 days in T20 International when an Afghan bowler has taken a hat-trick. The last time Afghanistan's Karim Janat took a hat-trick in the T20 played against Bangladesh on 14 July 2023.

How many Afghan bowlers took hat-tricks in T20 International?

Overall, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman are the third Afghans to take a hat-trick in T20 International. Even before him and Karim Janat, Rashid Khan had done this feat. Rashid took a hat-trick in the T20 played against Ireland in 2019.

Mujib-ur-Rahman became the heroes of Afghanistan's victory

Talking about the match, Afghanistan, batting first, scored 189 runs for 4 wickets in 20 overs. In reply, chasing the target of 190 runs, West Indies could score only 150 runs and lost the match by 39 runs. Mujeeb-ur-Rahman were chosen players of the match in Afghanistan's victory.