Mohammad Nawaz joins elite list with hat-trick against Afghanistan

SHARJAH: Pakistan left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz on Sunday entered an elite list after taking a hat-trick in the final of the tri-series against Afghanistan here at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Set 142, Afghanistan were reeling in the powerplay, courtesy of Mohammad Nawaz’s brilliant bowling spell. He took five for just 19 runs in his quota of four overs.

Nawaz came into the bowling attack in the last over of the powerplay and started to trouble Afghanistan batters.

The left-armer removed Darwish Rasooli and Azmatullah Omarzai on successive balls, which turned the match on its head.

On the first ball of his next over, he dismissed Ibrahim Zadran, who was stumped to complete his hat-trick.

With this feat, he became the third Pakistani player to take a hat-trick in the T20I format.

Hat-tricks for Pakistan in T20Is 

Faheem Ashraf against Sri Lanka in 2017

Mohammad Hasnain against Sri Lanka in 2019

Mohammad Nawaz against Afghanistan 2025

After opting to bat, Pakistan put on a shambolic batting display and could only manage to score 141 for 8 in their 20 overs.

Mohammad Nawaz was crucial with the bat as well, scoring a vital 25 off 21 balls, striking two sixes.

At the time of filing this story, Afghanistan were 64-9 in 14.3 overs with 78 runs more required to win.

Playing XIs

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan (c), Mohammad Nabi, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Ali Agha (c), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz

READ: Pakistan sets Afghanistan 142 to win in tri-series final