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Sixteen year old Naseem Shah became the youngest player ever to take a test match hattrick when he dismissed the Bangladeshi trio of Najmul Hossain, Taijul Islam and Mahmudullah during the first test between Pakistan and Bangladesh at Rawalpindi.
He needed a review to get Najmul out leg-before-wicket before trapping Taijul LBW as well. On the hattrick delivery, Haris Sohail took a smart catch to get Mahmudullah out, with Shah becoming the youngest test hat trick-taker at the age of 16 years and 359 days.
The previous record was held by another famous Pakistani cricketer Abdul Razzaq who achieved the record at 20 years of age against Sri Lanka in 2000.
Born in Lower Dir, Khyber Pakhtunwala, Shah is a right handed fast bowler who made his first class debut in September 2018 in the 2018-19 Quaid-e-Azam trophy. Since then, his rise to the top has been nothing short of phenomenal. In October 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Board named him as one of the six players to watch out for ahead of their 2018-19 National T20 Cup.
He made his full international debut against World Cup semi-finalists Australia in November 2019. It didn’t take long for him to make an impact as in the next test series against Sri Lanka, he took five wickets in the second innings of the final test to give Pakistan their first home test series win since 2006. He is also the youngest ever test cricketer to get a 5-for.
He was supposed to be part of the ICC under-19 World Cup team for Pakistan this year but the PCB withdrew him for “cricketing reasons”. There were some doubts about whether they were lying about his age but the board clarified that the ages of all the players taking part had been verified and that given Shah’s calibre now as a full international, they felt he was better off not playing in the World Cup.
Taimur Khan, who spotted Shah at a camp in Peshawar told BBC Stumped presenter Alison Mitchell, “You know when he was with me in the national camp for the under 16’s, he was down to earth, quick learner and he was listening to all the senior players, always asking them for tips. He was very good in training, always on time and diet conscious at that age. That made him an exceptional case.”
Pakistan is not new to the trend of handing extremely young players an international debut. Hasan Raza for example, made his full international debut for the country in tests aged 14 years and 227 days against Zimbabwe. There have been many others from the nation as well including Mushtaq Mohammad, Aaquib Javed (who won the 1992 World Cup with Pakistan) and Aftab Baloch. While it remains to be seen if Shah’s early international start and success can translate into a long and fruitful career, the teenager looks like one of the best youngsters in the game.
Bangladesh cricket hattrick naseem shah Pakistan youngest
Last modified: 23rd February 2020
