T20 World Cup 2021: Curtis Kempher's four wickets off four balls, and who has done it?
Any bowler has this dream and if he finds the meaning of this dream, he is flying in the air.
Obviously, what could be a happier moment for him than to lead three batsmen to the pavilion on three consecutive balls, but only if he manages to take another wicket on the next ball after this hat trick. So what to say, this is the jackpot of this bowler.
In the T20 World Cup match between Ireland and the Netherlands played in Abu Dhabi on Monday, a lottery was drawn like that of Irish bowler Curtis Kempfer when he took four wickets for the Netherlands on four consecutive balls.
This feat has put him on par with Afghanistan's Rashid Khan and Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga, who have taken four wickets off four balls in other T20 Internationals before him.
Ireland won the match by 7 wickets. The Netherlands had given Ireland a target of 107 runs.
The dramatic incident began in the 10th over of the Netherlands' innings when Curtis Kempfer appealed to Colin Ackerman to be caught by wicketkeeper Neil Rock on the second ball but the umpire gave the ball wide.
Curtis Kemper was playing only his fifth T20 International for Ireland
However, both Kempfer and Rock persuaded their captain, Andy Ballberry, to review that Ackerman's glove was attached to the ball and that the review was given to Kempfer for a wicket.
On the next ball, Kemper lbw Rhine Tan Dashkate. The next batsman of the Netherlands, Scott Edwards, could not save himself from being LBW on the hat trick ball.
The drama did not end there, with Curtis Kempfer bowling the fourth wicket off the fourth ball to Roelof van der Merwe.
Kemper is the first Irish player to score a hat-trick in a T20 International, but most importantly, he has become only the third bowler in the world to take four wickets off four balls in a T20 International.
Rashid Khan vs Ireland
Afghanistan's league sniper Rashid Khan took four wickets off four balls in the match against Ireland on February 24, 2019 in Dehradun.
He took the wicket of Kevin O'Brien on the last ball of his second over. When he came to bowl in his third over, he dismissed George Dockrell on the first ball through an incredible catch by Muhammad Nabi. Shaun Gatekat failed to complete Rashid Khan's hat trick and then on the fourth ball, Rashid Khan LBWed Sami Singh through Googly.
Lasith Malinga vs New Zealand
Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga sent four New Zealand batsmen to the pavilion on 6 consecutive balls in Pallekele on 6 September 2019.
In the third ball of the third over of New Zealand's innings, Lasith Malinga bowled Colin Monroe to complete his century of wickets in the T20 International. On the next ball, the umpire rejected LBW's appeal against Rutherford. Sri Lanka took the review and the decision was in favor of Malanga. Now in front of Malanga was the Callen de Grand Home who had failed to protect himself from the yorker.
Malinga reiterated his habit of taking four wickets off four balls and also showed Ross Taylor the way back through LBW.
He also took four wickets off four balls in the 2007 Fifty Overs World Cup match against South Africa. Earlier, Pakistan's off-spinner Thaqleen Mushtaq had bowled four wickets off five balls in the ODI against Zimbabwe in Peshawar.
In Test cricket, England's Morris Elm, Chris Old and Pakistan's Wasim Akram are the three bowlers who have taken four wickets off five balls.
Interestingly, Wasim Akram had taken the wickets of Jeffrey Dujon and Kurtley Ambrose on two consecutive balls in the Lahore Test against West Indies in 1990, but on a hat-trick ball, Imran Khan dropped a catch to Wasim Akram. He lost the hat trick but on the next two balls Wasim Akram managed to take two more wickets.