Trishna makes history with debut hat-trick

Bangladesh Women’s national team bowler Fariha Trishna picked up a hat-trick on her debut as the women in red and green returned to winning ways with an 88-run win over Malaysia in their Asia Cup 2022 campaign at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium Academy Ground 1 on Thursday.

The left-arm pacer made the history books becoming only the second player to pocket a hat-trick on debut. The 20-year-old also became the second Bangladeshi to take a hat-trick in Twenty20 Internationals after leg-spinner Fahima Khatun picked up three in three against the UAE in 2018.

Trishna finished Thursday’s match with figures of three for 12 as she used her in-swinger to great effect, castling two right-handers and trapping the other righty lbw.

Having played five One-Day Internationals before, Trishna, who got to know about her debut on Thursday morning, said she was delighted to have marked her debut with a hat-trick.

“It was my debut. I tried to deliver my best. I got a hat-trick in my debut match, so I’m very happy to contribute to the team’s win. I’m very happy to have been able to do something memorable in my first match,” she said in the post-match press conference.

“I got to know about my debut this morning. I had been with the team. So, I prepared myself in training. I was ready to contribute to the team,” she added.

The left-arm pacer said that the familiarity with the Sylhet Ground helped to boost her confidence.

“Confidence was high because it is our home ground and we have played a lot of NCL matches and practice matches as well,” she said.

“I think this ground is lucky for me because whenever I play on this wicket, I tend to do well and good things happen. So, I had the belief that I would be able to do something here,” she added.

Trishna used her in-swing to great effect against the right-handers in the match, a trait she revealed comes to her very naturally.

She sneaked past the defence of opener Winifred Duraisingam, trapped Mas Elysa lbw, and then found the bat-pad gap in Mahira Izzati Ismail’s defence to complete her hat-trick. She did that all using identical in-swinging deliveries.

The pacer said that even after taking the first two wickets with similar lengths, she did not look to try anything different for the hat-trick ball.

“For the hat-trick ball, the captain instructed me to bowl the length ball which gave the previous two wickets. So, I thought my length ball would be difficult for them. I didn’t think about variation or anything else. I wanted to bowl the length ball,” she revealed her plans for the hat-trick ball.

“I get swing naturally. Mainly I tried to bowl in my spots, didn’t try variations and stuck to my spots. My strength lies in maintaining my spot. I get in-swing to the right-hander naturally. If I can hit the right spots, my deliveries pan out well,” she added.