Taijul Islam (Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe, 2014)
There is something that connects Bangladesh-Zimbabwe encounters with hat-tricks. Following Abdur Razzak’s hat-trick four years back against the same opposition at the same venue, Taijul Islam picked up another one during the 5th ODI of the five-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur. Batting first after winning the toss, Zimbabwe, who were already trailing 4-0 in the series until then, displayed another dismal performance and were bowled out for 128.
Islam and his spin bowling partner, Shakib-Al-Hasan were the wreckers-in-chief as they picked up 4 and 3 wickets respectively. Three of Islam’s four victims in the innings fell one after the other, on consecutive balls, but not in the same over. On the last ball of the 27th over, Tinashe Panyangara was bowled by the spinner, while on the first two balls of his next over – the 29th over of the innings – John Nyumbu and Tendai Chatara were dismissed, leg-before-wicket and bowled, respectively.
Needless to say that Bangladesh went on to win then match and complete a clean sweep of the Africans 5-0, as they hunted down the target of 129 with 5 wickets in hand and more than 25 overs to spare.
