Pakistan's Noman Ali celebrates after taking the hat-trick against West Indies on Day 1 of the second Test match at Multan. (PCB | X)With the first three balls of the 12th over on Day 1, Noman Ali created history for Pakistan cricket. He became the first ever Pakistani spin bowler to pick up a hat-trick in the longest format of the sport, dismissing three West Indies batters on the trot from 38/4 to 38/7 and leave the visitors reeling after they had opted to bat first.
First it was Justin Greaves, who was caught by Babar Azam at second slip for 1. Then Tevin Imlach paid the price for an ill-judged sweep shot and was out first ball. Facing the hat-trick ball, Kevin Sinclair pushed at one that just turned from offstump and it was once again Babar Azam at second slip, taking a sharp catch to spark wide celebrations.
𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭! 😍
Hat-trick hero Noman Ali makes history in Multan 🙌#PAKvWI | #RedBallRumble pic.twitter.com/2xRLeYpVXl
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) January 25, 2025
Before Noman, all Pakistan hat-tricks in men’s Test cricket were taken by pacers. Wasim Akram was the first Pakistan bowler to achieve the feat, back in the 1988-99 season and he did so twice against Sri Lanka. The others are Abdul Razzaq (vs SL), Mohammad Sami (vs SL), Naseem Shah (vs BAN). Noman, 38, became the second-oldest player to take a test hat-trick after Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath.
Before the match, former pacer and current Pakistan head coach Aaqib Javed defended the hosts’ decision to play turning tracks for the home assignments, saying that they could have been in the race for the World Test Championship final had these decisions been taken earlier.
“The rule of test cricket is to win at home. If you win at home and you win 2-3 tests away, you become a strong candidate for the final,” Aqib had said in the pre-match press conference. We played in South Africa and didn’t field a spinner there due to the conditions. Similarly, pitches in Australia and England favor pace bowlers. Every country prepares pitches according to their advantage to win matches. I don’t understand the problem with spin-friendly wickets. If pace bowlers take wickets, people say cricket is progressing, but if spinners take wickets, they say cricket is going backward. I don’t understand this.”
The tail wagged for the West Indies, with Gudakesh Motie (55) notching his maiden test half-century as the tourists recovered to frustrate the hosts. Together with Kemar Roach (25) and Jomel Warrican (36 not out), Motie dragged West Indies to 163 before he became Noman’s sixth victim just before lunch.Noman finished with figures of 6-41 while his spin partner Sajid Khan also chipped in with two wickets. Kashif Ali picked up one wicket on his test debut, a rare wicket for a Pakistani pace bowler in recent tests on home soil.
Pakistan won the first test, which was also in Multan.
(With Reuters inputs)
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