On Saturday, Australian pacer Pat Cummins etched his name in cricket history by claiming back-to-back hat-tricks, matching the 25-year-old record set by Pakistan’s Wasim Akram during Australia’s Super Eight match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 against Afghanistan at Arnos Vale Ground.
Cummins first dismissed Afghanistan’s captain, Rashid Khan, with the final delivery of his third over, and then he started his next over by taking out Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib. This followed his first-ever hat-trick in the tournament’s earlier match against Bangladesh.
Reflecting on his achievement, Cummins expressed his astonishment to the broadcaster, noting the rarity of achieving two consecutive hat-tricks after more than 100 games for Australia.
He narrowly missed a chance to claim four wickets in four deliveries, a feat previously accomplished by Ireland’s Curtis Campher in the 2021 T20 World Cup, due to a missed catch by David Warner.
Cummins joins an elite group of bowlers with two T20 International hat-tricks, including Lasith Malinga and Tim Southee. He is also the second player ever to take hat-tricks in consecutive international games, a record he now shares with Wasim Akram, who achieved this in Tests against Sri Lanka in March 1999.
Furthermore, after Brett Lee, Cummins is the second Australian to secure a hat-trick in a Men’s T20 World Cup, a milestone Lee reached in the tournament’s inaugural edition against Bangladesh.
