Veteran South African spinner Imran Tahir jolted the Zimbabwe batting line-up with a mighty hat-trick to take the game home by 120 runs. Tahir became the fourth South African bowler after Charl Langeveldt, JP Duminy and Kagiso Rabada to claim a hat-trick.
With this feat, Tahir claimed a six-wicket haul against Zimbabwe on Wednesday at Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein.
The dream hat-trick:
The incident happened in the last ball of the 18th over when Tahir first removed Sean Williams. Then he went on to scalp the wickets of Peter Moor and Brandon Mavuta to complete the feat in the next over. He also became the 44th ODI cricketer to pick a hattrick.
Here’s the video:
Tahir played a massive role in sailing the Protea ship to the shore. The hosts remained unimpressive with the bat. Things could have been much worse for them had Dale Steyn not chipped in with an 85-ball 60.
Chasing a modest target of 199, Zimbabwe were bundled for 78, with Tahir claiming a 6-fer. He ended the match with his third five-wicket haul in ODIs.