Mumbai Indians star takes sensational hat-trick ahead of IPL 2024

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Mumbai Indians' (MI) Sri Lanka pacer Nuwan Thusara on Saturday, March 9, picked a sensational hat-trick in the series-deciding third T20I against Bangladesh at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

The right-arm fast bowler ran riot after Sri Lanka set hosts Bangladesh a 175-run target. In the fourth over of the Bangladesh innings, Thusara first picked the first Najmul Hossain Shanto (1) on the second delivery, and then dismissed Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah on successive deliveries.

Thusara clean bowled Shanto and Hridoy, and then trapped Mahmudullah in front of the stumps. Bangladesh could never recover from the blows, and succumbed to a 28-run defeat. Thusara finished with figures of 5/20 and was adjudged Man of the Match.

Nuwan Thusara to play for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024

The 29-year-old from Thalawa was bought by five-time champions Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2024 auction. From a base price of INR 50 lakhs, Thushara fetched Rs 4.8 crore from Mumbai after a bidding war which also involved Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Thusara recently played for MI Cape Town in the SA20 2024 and picked eight wickets in five matches at an average of 19.25. Kagiso Rabada was the leading wicket-taker for the team. He picked just one more wicket than Thusara.

Overall, Nuwan Thusara has played seven T20Is for Sri Lanka. In 86 T20 matches till date, he has picked 115 wickets at an average of 18.64 and an economy rate of 7.91.

Mumbai Indians IPL 2024 Squad: Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, N. Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Romario Shepherd, Hardik Pandya (c), Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma