Shadab Khan completes hat-trick in Lanka Premier League

Pakistan team leg-spinner Shadab Khan completed a hat-trick against Kandy Falcons on his debut for Colombo Strikers in the Nikkei Premier League (LPL).

In the match played at the Pali Kale Stadium, leg-spinner Shadab Khan’s Colombo Strikers batted first and scored 198 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Leg-spinner Shadab Khan’s performance in this match was remarkable, as he dismissed Vinandu Hasringa, Salman Ali Agha and Pawan Rathnayake to complete his hat-trick.

Shadab sent 4 players to pavilion by giving 22 runs in his quota of 4 overs. The leg-spinner, who failed in the T20 World Cup, tweeted on his social media site X with the caption “God is great” and shared the match statistics.

It should be noted that many players including Shadab Khan, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan are under criticism for their poor performance in the T20 World Cup.

Earlier, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has offered a piece of advice to struggling all-rounder Shadab Khan to overcome his bowling woes.

During the second T20I, Shadab conceded 55 runs in his four overs without taking any wicket — his worst bowling figure in T20Is.

Following that, Afridi called Shadab to boost his confidence.

“I called yesterday because I know he is going through a difficult time so I always try to help and motivate players who are having a hard time,” he told in an interview. “Similarly, I talked with Shadab about what he is doing wrong and I hope that if he does [what he discussed] in training sessions, you will see the difference.”

He was then asked if there’s some mental block with Shadab to which he said: “Is there any leg-spin coach with the team? Saeed Ajmal was there but he was an off-spinner. Ajmal should be asked if he guided Shadab and why is he not doing what he was told.