Hasan Mahmud took Bangladesh’s first Test hat-trick by a fast bowler on day three of the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi. On Sunday, October 11, he removed Ismat Alam, Qais Ahmad and Zia-ur-Rehman with the last three balls of the 83rd over.
He finished with 5/55 from 21 overs. Afghanistan went from 211/4 overnight to 240 all out, losing their last six wickets for 29 runs. Rahmat Shah was left stranded on 105 not out, and Bangladesh were 44/2 at lunch, 150 runs ahead.
Two months earlier, his nine wickets helped Bangladesh win a Test in Australia for the first time.
The cameras caught three wickets. What they could not show is that the hat-trick was decided by what Hasan chose not to do with the third ball.
Ismat Alam went first, bowled for 1 by a back-of-a-length ball that hit the base of off stump. Qais Ahmad edged the next ball, from the same length outside off, and Litton Das dived to his right to take it one-handed.
The hat-trick ball hit Zia-ur-Rehman on the pad, and the umpire said not out. Najmul Hossain Shanto reviewed: UltraEdge showed no bat, ball-tracking had the ball hitting the top of off stump, and the decision was overturned.
Afghanistan were in control until Hasan Mahmud came into the fore with a back-breaking spell 💪
𝐇𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐭-𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 🇧🇩
#AFGvBAN #ACC https://t.co/NENlwneST4
— AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) October 11, 2026
Insider Read
After two wickets in two balls, a fast bowler’s head fills with noise. The slips creep in, the batter is fresh, and a voice tells you to bowl something special. That is how most hat-trick balls are wasted: a yorker that turns into a full toss, or a bouncer the tail-ender simply ducks.
Hasan’s first two wickets came from the same length, and the third ball was simply at the stumps. That makes the batter play, and a tail-ender who has just watched two partners go rarely plays it well. When the umpire said no, the bowler had to be honest about what he saw rather than what he wanted, and the replay proved him right.
Bangladesh’s Three Test Hat-Tricks
Hasan is the third Bangladeshi to take a Test hat-trick and the first fast bowler. Posts calling him the first Bangladeshi to do it, including the Asian Cricket Council’s, are wrong.
| Bowler | Type | Opponent | Venue | Year | Victims |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alok Kapali | Leg-spin | Pakistan | Peshawar | 2003 | Shabbir Ahmed, Danish Kaneria, Umar Gul |
| Sohag Gazi | Off-spin | New Zealand | Chattogram | 2013 | Corey Anderson, BJ Watling, Doug Bracewell |
| Hasan Mahmud | Right-arm pace | Afghanistan | Abu Dhabi | 2026 | Ismat Alam, Qais Ahmad, Zia-ur-Rehman |
The spell also brought his 50th Test wicket, in his 17th Test. It was his fourth five-wicket haul, level with Shahadat Hossain for the most by a Bangladesh pacer.
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