Left-arm spinner Noman Ali scripted his name into the record books becoming the first-ever Pakistan spinner to claim a hat-trick in Test cricket on Saturday, January 25 against the West Indies in Multan. (Match Blog | More Cricket News)
The feat came in the 12th over of the first day in the 2nd Test when Ali dismissed Justin Greaves, Tevin Imlach and Kevin Sinclair off consecutive deliveries, to achieve the feat.
Prior to Noman, all the hat-tricks registered by men's Test cricket were by pacers. Wasim Akram was the 1st Pakistani bowler to bag a hat-trick, back in 1988-89 and repeated the feat twice against Sri Lanka. The others include Abdul Razzaq (vs SL), Mohammad Sami (vs SL) and Naseem Shah (vs BAN).
Wasim Akram vs SL, 1999
Wasim Akram vs SL, 1999
Abdul Razzaq vs SL, 2000
Mohammad Sami vs SL, 2002
Naseem Shah vs BAN, 2020
Noman Ali vs WI, 2025
Before the 2nd Test, former pacer and current Pakistan men's team coach Aaqib Javed had defended the hosts' decision to play spinning tracks on home soil. He also went on to say that these tracks could have helped the hosts to seal a spot in the ICC World Test Championship final next year.
“The rule of test cricket is to win at home. If you win at home and you win 2-3 tests away, you become a strong candidate for the final,” Aqib had said in the pre-match press conference.
"We played in South Africa and didn’t field a spinner there due to the conditions. Similarly, pitches in Australia and England favor pace bowlers. Every country prepares pitches according to their advantage to win matches. I don’t understand the problem with spin-friendly wickets. If pace bowlers take wickets, people say cricket is progressing, but if spinners take wickets, they say cricket is going backward. I don’t understand this.”
It remains to be seen whether such tracks could be seen in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, that will be hosted by Pakistan and UAE.
Earlier, West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite had won the toss and elected to bat first under testing conditions against Pakistan in the second Test.
Pakistan are already 1-0 up in the two-match series, winning the 1st Test by a mammoth 127 runs.
Playing XIs:
West Indies (Playing XI): Kraigg Brathwaite(c), Mikyle Louis, Amir Jangoo, Kavem Hodge, Alick Athanaze, Justin Greaves, Tevin Imlach(w), Kevin Sinclair, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican
Pakistan (Playing XI): Shan Masood(c), Muhammad Hurraira, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Salman Agha, Sajid Khan, Noman Ali, Kashif Ali, Abrar Ahmed
