A flatter delivery to sneak through bat and pad followed by a well tossed-up googly, too good for a No. 10. Finally, a flipper striking the batsman right in front of the stumps – that’s how Imran Tahir completed his second hat-trick in T20 cricket to lead Multan Sultans to a thumping nine-wicket win over Quetta Gladiators in a Pakistan Super League match at Sharjah.
Tahir completed the hat-trick in his third over, polishing off the Quetta tail to bowl them out for 102 in 15.4 overs.
Tahir resgistered his hat-trick by removing all three of batsmen for a duck. Hasan Khan (0) was his first victim, who played all around a straight one. Tahir then accounted for John Hastings with a dream googly, that would have made any off spinner proud. When the stage was set, he bowled a flipper to trap Rahat Ali plumb in front.
The early damage was done by left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir, who picked up 3 for 14 in his three over spell, accounting for Umar Amin (8), Sarfraz Ahmed (30), Mohammad Nawaz (3).
In reply, the Sultans top order made light work of the 103-run by reaching the mark in 16.4 overs with nine wickets in hand. Captain Kumar Sangakkara notched up yet another half-century (51*) to ensure smooth sailing for the Sultans.
With this victory, Multan join Karachi at the top of the table with seven points, while Quetta, having won just two of their five games, drop down to fifth place and are stuck on four points.