Naseem Shah, the young fast bowling sensation from Pakistan, scripts history on Sunday as he became the youngest player to record a Test hat trick. Naseem removed Najumul Hossain, Taijul Islam, and Mahmudullah in three successive deliveries at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Day 3 of the opening Test against Bangladesh. With the hattrick, Naseem, who is just 16-year-old, broke the record of Bangladeshi spinner Alok Kapali, who took a hat-trick at the age of 19 against Pakistan, in Peshawar in 2003.
Bangladesh were sitting comfortably at 124-2 minutes before the close on the third day, before Naseem wreaked havoc with three back to back wickets. Naseem trapped Najumul Hossain Shanto LBW, then followed up with dismissals of Taijul Islam (lbw) and Mahmudullah (caught) with the next two deliveries.
Last year, Naseem bowled Pakistan to a series victory against Sri Lanka and became the second youngest player to take five wickets in a Test innings.
At the stumps, Bangladesh was 126-6 and needing another 86 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
Earlier, resuming at 342-3, Azam, who scored his fifth Test ton got dismissed on the first ball of the day. Asad Shafiq, who put on 137 for the fourth wicket with Azam, added just five to his overnight score and soon was caught behind off fast bowler Ebadot Hossain for 65. For Bangladesh, Jayed and Islam were the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-86 and 2-139 respectively.
