Abhimanyu Mithun, who was only recently summoned with the Karnataka Premier League betting scandal, has created a unique record of picking up 5 wickets in 6 balls, including a hattrick, in a Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy game against Haryana. Mithun achieved the feat while playing for Karnataka in the Syed Mushtaq semis, and it follows his stellar performance in the final of the Vijay Hazare tournament last month, when he had picked up his maiden List A five-wicket haul, along with a hattrick against Tamil Nadu.
On Friday, Mithun, who had been expensive in his first three overs, turned the game around in the fourth over, as his strikes prevented Haryana from crossing the 200-run mark. The rivals were comfortably placed at 192 for 3 before Mithun came into the attack, with Rahul Tewatia and Himanshu Rana in aggressive form. The duo scored 57 runs in four overs and the team was well on course to score over 200 runs.
However, Mithun had other plans. He got Rana first up, who mistimed a pull straight into deep midwicket. The next scalp was Tewatia’s, who holed one to wide long-on. He then got his first hattrick in T20s as he got Sumit Kumar for no score with a slower one.
He achieved the feat of 4 wickets in 4 balls when he got Amit Mishra out the very next ball. Jayant Yadav was his last wicket in the over as a slower back-of-the-length delivery was mistimed by the batter. Haryana could eventually manage 194 for 8 in their quota of overs. The target of 195 was chased down in just 15 overs, with Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey staying unbeaten in the end. It was D Padikkal, however, who led the charge up front, scoring 87 in 42 balls with the help of 11 fours and 4 sixes to give his team the solid foundation that they so desperately needed.
The team had finished second behind Tamil Nadu in Group B in the league stage, while Haryana were the toppers of Group A. The second semi-final is currently underway with Tamil Nadu taking on Rajasthan.
