On Thursday, Fariha Trisna etched her name into the record books as the left-arm pacer bagged a hattrick on her T20I debut to help Bangladesh crush Malaysia by 88 runs in their Women's Asia Cup encounter at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.
Coming in to bowl only her third over in T20Is, the 20-year-old scalped the wicket of Malaysia skipper Winifred before getting Duraisingam Mas Elysa and Mahirah Izzati Ismail off the second, third and fourth deliveries of the sixth over of the game.
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All three wicket-taking deliveries were identical -- length deliveries that nipped back in to bamboozle the right-handed batters. Duraisingam and Mahirah Izzati were beaten by the slight movement off the pitch and lost their stumps while Elysa was trapped in front.
However, things were not as easy for Trisna as she made it seem yesterday. She encountered innumerable obstacles on her path from Panchagarh, the northernmost district of Bangladesh, to the national team, with difficulties in abundance for women playing cricket in such a remote area.
"Playing cricket in Panchagarh is very difficult for girls. The game is entirely for the boys over there. There is nothing for girls [in cricket in Panchagarh]. We had grounds in Panchagarh but we still could not practice," Trisna, who overcame all these hurdles to become only the second Bangladeshi bowler to scalp a hattrick in T20Is, said after the game.
Leg-spinner Fahima Khatun is the only other Bangladeshi bowler to have bagged a hattrick in the shortest format, doing so against the UAE in 2018.
Trisna also became only the second bowler, after Nepal's Anjali Chand, to scalp a hattrick on debut in T20Is.
The young seamer spoke about how sticking to her strengths worked for her.
"My strength is my spot ball. I just try to land the ball in a specific spot. I usually get out-swing when bowling to left-handed batters. For right-handers, they become in-swingers. I get results when I stick to my strengths.
Interestingly, Trisna thought the Sylhet wicket also had something to do with her success.
"This wicket is lucky for me. Whenever I play here, I try to do good things and things happen for me. I believed that I would do something good on my debut as well."
