Kandy (Sri Lanka): Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga on Friday became the first bowler in Twenty20 internationals to claim 100 wickets, achieving the feat in the third match against New Zealand in Kandy.
Malinga, who surpassed Pakistan spinner Shahid Afridi's tally of 97 scalps to become the leading T20 wicket-taker on Sunday, bowled Colin Munro to get a century of wickets in his 76th match.
The 36-year-old speedster went on to complete a hat-trick and took four wickets in four balls as Hamish Rutherford, Colin de Grandhomme and Ross Taylor followed Munro to the pavilion.
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And Ross Taylor goes!
— ICC (@ICC) September 6, 2019 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
HE'S GOT FOUR IN FOUR!
It's not even the first time he's done this! #SLvNZ https://t.co/ruvS6ITPLC
And Ross Taylor goes!
HE'S GOT FOUR IN FOUR!
It's not even the first time he's done this! #SLvNZ https://t.co/ruvS6ITPLC
And Ross Taylor goes!
— ICC (@ICC) September 6, 2019
HE'S GOT FOUR IN FOUR!
It's not even the first time he's done this! #SLvNZ https://t.co/ruvS6ITPLC
Later, Malinga removed Tim Seifert in his 3rd over to complete his 2nd 5-wicket haul in T20I cricket, thus becoming the only bowler to do so.
- In the process, Malinga also went past Wasim Akram and set a record for the most number of hat-tricks (5) in international cricket. Malinga has 3 hat-tricks in ODIs and two T20I hat-tricks, while Akram had 2 in Tests and as many in ODIs.
- Interestingly, Malinga is the only bowler in international cricket to have picked up 4 wickets in 4 balls twice. Malinga first achieved the feat in 2007 in an ODI against South Africa.
- The only other bowler to achieve the same feat in international cricket is Afghanistan's Rashid Khan. The 20-year-old spinner became the first bowler to claim four wickets of consecutive deliveries in a T20I. He did it against Ireland earlier this year.
Meanwhile, earlier in the game, spinners Mitchell Santner and Todd Astle helped New Zealand restrict Sri Lanka to 125 for eight.
The duo claimed three wickets each to rattle the hosts, who have already lost the three-match series and trail 2-0, with regular strikes following their decision to bat first.
