Brett Lee became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in Twenty20 Internationals and it took place on September 16, 2007 in the World T20 clash in Cape Town against Bangladesh.
Brett Lee made an immediate impact in his international career when he took five wickets on Test debut during the Boxing Day Test against India in Melbourne in 1999. Lee evolved into one of Australia’s premier pace bowlers and by the time the likes of Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie had retired, he had become the leader of the Australia pace bowling attack. In 2007, cricket saw the birth of the World T20 and all nations jostled to get the biggest prize in world cricket at that time.
On September 16, 2007, though, Brett Lee decided to have some fun and he etched himself into the record books. The venue was Cape Town and the match was Group F encounter of the ICC World T20 against Bangladesh. Mohammad Ashraful was the captain of the side and they had made a big impression by knocking out the West Indies in the opening round of the competition.
Against Australia, Bangladesh struggled and at 108/3 in the 17th over, they were determined to get to a big total. However, Lee dented Bangladesh totally by creating history. With his fourth ball, he dismissed Shakib Al Hasan as he edged to Adam Gilchrist. With the second ball, he dismissed Mashrafe Mortaza who made room and was yorked. With the third ball, he dismissed Alok Kapali LBW as he became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in T20Is.
Bangladesh were restricted to 123/8 and Australia coasted home to a nine-wicket win thanks to Mathhew Hayden’s 73.
Record for Lee
Lee thus became the first and so far, only bowler to take two hat-tricks in an ICC World Cup event. In the 2003 edition also held in South Africa, Brett Lee had taken a hat-trick in the Super Six encounter against Kenya in Durban. That was his first hat-trick in limited overs cricket as Australia went on to win the 2003 World Cup.
After Lee’s hat-trick, there were 12 further instances of this feat in T20Is. Jacob Oram of New Zealand took a hat-trick against Sri Lanka in 2009 at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo while Tim Southee achieved it against Pakistan in Auckland in 2011. Lasith Malinga is the only bowler to take two hat-tricks in T20Is, having first achieved it against Bangladesh in 2017 while he did the unprecedented and took four wickets in four balls against New Zealand in Pallekele in 2019.
Rashid Khan of Afghanistan is the second bowler after Malinga to take four wickets in four balls when he achieved it against Ireland. Faheem Ashraf of Pakistan took a hat-trick against Sri Lanka and so did Mohammad Hasnain. Thisara Perera achieved the feat against India in 2016 in Ranchi while Oman’s Khawar Ali and Norman Vanua of Papua New Guinea have also achieved hat-tricks. Deepak Chahar of India created history against Bangladesh when he took a hat-trick and also achieved the best bowling figures in T20Is of 6/7.
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 "Brett Lee 2007 World T20")
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