Veteran South African spinner Imran Tahir got to 400 T20I wickets. He went past the tally in the game between Birmingham Phoenix and Welsh Fire. Tahir is playing for the Birmingham Phoenix in the inaugural edition of the Hundred. In the 23rd match between the two sides, Tahir picked up a hat-trick dismissing three batsmen on consecutive balls.
Imran Tahir dismissed Qais Ahmed (1), Matt Milnes (0) and David Pyne (0) of consecutive deliveries to register the hat-trick. Meanwhile, Tahir’s team won by a margin of 93 runs after Birmingham batted first and scored 184/5. Wil Smeed aging 19 scored a quickfire and unbeaten 65 off 38 balls. Skipper Moeen Ali scored 59 off 28 balls. Liam Livingstone scored 31 off 19 balls to take the team to that score.
Watch the clip here:
5-wicket haul ✅
First-ever hat-trick in the #TheHundred ✅@ImranTahirSA was absolutely phenomenal at #Edgbaston last evening! 🤩📺 Watch the highlights from this match on #FanCode 👉 https://t.co/ldYCojiB07#TheHundredOnFanCode #CricketOnFanCode @thehundred pic.twitter.com/OQLLKnvrbU
— FanCode (@FanCode) August 10, 2021
In reply, Welsh Fire did not have the best of starts. Ian Cockbain top-scored with 32 runs as none of the other Welsh batsmen failed to fire. The side lost wickets at regular intervals with the Birmingham bowlers bowling in tight lines. They did not allow any of the opposition batsmen to score runs freely and ended up winning the game by 93 runs.
Imran Tahir’s hat-trick was the highlight of the match for Birmingham who are topping the table with four wins in six games and with 8 points in their bag. Tahir retired from ODIs after the 2019 World Cup but has continued to ply his trade in T20I international cricket for the side. With the T20 World Cup coming up, Tahir will be key for South Africa’s chances of winning the World Cup.
Tahir has picked up 63 wickets in 38 matches so far. He has two fifers to his name in T20 international cricket. South Africa are placed alongside, Australia, England and West Indies in group A in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
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