Aliss Islam claims hat-trick in BPL debut

Uncapped off-spinner Aliss Islam has become the third bowler in the history of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) to take a hat-trick.

The 22-year-old finished with figures of 4/26 while playing for Dhaka Dynamites.

Islam got the much-needed breakthrough for Dhaka as he broke the 121-run partnership between Rilee Rossouw and Mohammad Mithun. After sending Rossouw back for 83, his hat-trick helped restrict Rangapur to 181/9 in response to Dhaka's 183/9.

In the 18th over of the game against Rangpur Riders on Friday, Islam bowled Mithun (49), while the ball to Masrafe Mortaza (0) clipped the bails and Farhad Reza (0) was caught at slip.

Talking about his selection in the team, Islam, who was spotted by a Dhaka scout when he was playing first-division cricket, was quoted by ICC, as saying: "I was a net bowler for Dhaka Dynamites. While practising bowling in the nets, Shujon (Coach Khaled Mahmud) after watching me said that he believed that I could play well in the BPL and later took me to his team."

"I got to know that I will be playing. Mahmud called me up and suggested that I prepare myself physically and mentally. And I was prepared already. It is a matter of nervousness playing in this big stadium; in this big tournament. At the outset, I was outright nervous, and then eventually I got rid of it," he added.

In spite of dropping three catches, Islam further said that the support he got from his teammates and coach helped him to a great extent.

"It was my first match in a stadium. I was literally too nervous. But after dropping the catches, the teammates supported me to a great extent and so did the coach. Shakib Bhai (Shakib Al Hasan, Dhaka captain) just said that it was going all good, just keep landing the ball at the right place," he added.

The other two players to pick up a hat-trick in the BPL are Mohammad Sami and Al Amin Hossain.

The tournament, which began on January 5, is slated to end on February 8.