In the ongoing second ODI between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana has picked up a hat-trick. The ongoing match was reduced to 37 overs per side due to rain. The Lankan Lions won the toss and chose to bowl first, given the weather conditions. However, despite picking the wicket of Will Young in the fifth over, the visitors were struggling with the ball.
The Kiwis’ opening batter Rachin Ravindra (79) and number three batter Mark Chapman (62) scored a fifty each. The duo put together 112 runs for the second wicket. Wanindu Hasaranga removed Ravindra while Theekshana took the wicket of Chapman. Despite these wickets falling in the space of three overs, the home side were going along nicely.
However, Theekshana picking a hat-trick in the last couple of overs meant that the two-time ODI World Cup finalists were restricted to 255/9 at the time of writing. The Rajasthan Royals spinner in the IPL took the wickets of skipper Mitchell Santner and Nathan Smith on the last two balls of the 35th over respectively. On the first ball of the last over, the 24-year-old took the wicket of Matt Henry to complete the hat-trick.
Read Also:- Most Runs in an Over
Maheesh Theekshana becomes sixth Sri Lankan to pick an ODI hat-trick
The Colombo-born player joined the likes of Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Shehan Madushanka. Vaas has two hat-tricks to his name (2001 against Zimbabwe and 2003 against Bangladesh), Malinga has three (2007 against South Africa, 2011 against Kenya and Australia), Perera has one (2012 against Pakistan), Hasaranga and Madushanka also have one each (2017 against Zimbabwe and 2018 against Bangladesh respectively).
See Also:- Fastest Ball in Cricket
Theekshana’s hat-trick also means that a Sri Lankan player has picked up a hat-trick after a gap of seven years. This also happens to be the first hat-trick of 2025. At the time of writing, New Zealand have scored 7/1 in 1.5 overs, chasing 256 runs.
