Shamar Springer’s hat-trick at the penultimate spot hands West Indies consolation win

Springer started the over by dismissing Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who was caught at deep square leg by Matthew Forde on the very first ball. He then dismissed Rashid Khan at backward point off the next delivery, followed by a pinpoint yorker that sent Shahidullah back to the pavilion, completing his maiden T20I hat-trick.

With the feat, Springer became the third West Indian bowler, after Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd, to claim a T20I hat-trick. Remarkably, this was also the second hat-trick of the series after Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s hat-trick in the second T20I, marking the first instance of multiple hat-tricks in a men’s T20I series between two Full Member sides.

Mujeeb’s previous heroics had helped Afghanistan register a 39-run win in the second T20I. He had dismissed Evin Lewis and Johnson Charles on consecutive deliveries in the eighth over of the West Indies’ innings and then removed Brandon King on the first ball of the 16th over, helping Afghanistan win the match and the series after also winning the first T20I by 38 runs.

In the third match, Brandon King top-scored for the West Indies with 47 off 35 balls, while the other top-five batters got starts but failed to convert. A decent effort from Matthew Forde (27 off 11) and Springer (16 off 9) ultimately helped the team post 151/8.

Afghanistan started their chase strongly with Gurbaz (71) and Ibrahim Zadran (28) putting on 72 runs for the opening wicket in 10 overs. However, the middle order collapsed, managing just 43 runs in the next seven overs while losing four wickets. With 12 runs at the 18th over, they were still in the hunt, but Springer’s hat-trick in the penultimate over sealed the victory for the West Indies.

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