Qatar spinner Owais Ahmed scripted history on November 11 as he claimed a hat-trick against Afghanistan in only T20I in Doha. Owais' hat-trick went in vain as Qatar failed to chase down the target of 150 and lost by 25 runs but the spinner entered the list of legendary bowlers.
Owais became the fourth bowler to take two hat-trick in T20Is. So far, the rare feat belonged to Australia's Pat Cummins, former New Zealand pacer Tim Southee and former Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga.
Owais recently claimed a hat-trick against Malaysia as well. He also became only the third bowler to take a T20I hat-trick against Afghanistan. In T20 World Cup 2025, Australia's Cummins became the first to achieve the feat. A couple of months earlier, Pakistan's left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz bagged a hat-trick against Afghanistan in Sharjah.
Owais registered the hat-trick in the final over of the innings. The 34-year-old left-arm spinner got the wickets of wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Ishaq and tailenders Qais Ahmed, Allah Ghazanfar. In his quota of four overs, he claimed four wickets for 29 runs. In the 17th over, he dismissed Farmanullah as well.
He is only the second player from an associate nation to take a T20I hat-trick against a full-member nation. Three years ago, UAE's Karthik Meiyappan became the first to do so against Sri lanka.
Rasooli hits fifty in low-scoring game
Despite Afghanistan's stand-in skipper Darwish Rasooli's 37-ball 66, the visitors managed to post 149/8. Nangeyalia Kharote pushed the scoring rate in the slog overs with an unbeaten 12-ball 23.
In reply, Qatar got off to a poor start, losing three wickets for just 26 runs in the sixth over. After 14 overs, they were 86/7. In the end, they managed to post 124/7 on the board.
For Afghanistan, Ghazanfar was exceptional as he conceded just nine runs from four overs, including a maiden and the wicket of opener Zubair Ali. Abdollah Ahmadzai and Farmanullah got two wickets apiece. Bilal Sami and Qais bagged one wicket each as well.
Rasooli was named ‘Player of the match’ for his half-century in a low-scoring affair.
Owais’ T20I numbers
29th-ranked T20I team Qatar's Owais made his T20I debut last year. Despite two hat-tricks, he has taken 10 wickets from 11 T20Is. He is an economical bowler, conceding 6.54 runs per over.