Afghanistan’s rising star, eighteen year-old Rashid Khan, took a hat-trick for Guyana Amazon Warriors against the Jamaica Tallawahs on September 6 2017. Here’s the hat-trick ball:
Powell out hat trick #CPL17 #Biggestpartyinsport #JTvGAW pic.twitter.com/nCjHRqh0HS
— CPL T20 (@CPL) September 7, 2017
It’s the first hat-trick in CPL history, but how will it sit in the annals of cricket history? Alongside Moeen Ali’s Test-ending achievement against South Africa in July? Which will we remember in years to come?
And take a look at those crowds at the Brian Lara Stadium, Trinidad. A near-empty ground. There’s an explanation: a semi-final on neutral territory in which the teams were known only at short notice – never a useful formula for box-office success. It’s another episode of another TV show.
Rashid Khan will play Test matches for Afghanistan before long, and my tip is that if and when he takes that first Test hat-trick it will be an occasion of celebration and a moment for history. A T20 hat-trick? Disposable commodity.