The star Caribbean cricketer Akeal Hosein took a sensational hat-trick in a Qualifier 1 match of the Abu Dhabi T10 2023 league on Friday, December 8. Akeal took five wickets for six to help New York Strikers beat Samp Army and secure a place in the final of the tournament for the second successive edition.
The 30-year-old left-arm spinner has been in sensational form for Kieron Pollard's side and produced his best performance in Qualifier. He dismissed Samp Army's top-five order batters Faf du Plessis, Dewald Brevis, Ibrahim Zadran, Andries Gous and Najibullah Zadran.
Hosein pulled off a stunning hat-trick in the first of the innings by bowling out Gous, Zadran and Brevis. He finished his spell with five for six figures to help the New York Strikers earn an easy 41-run win in the first Qualifier. Earlier, Afghanistans's batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz smashed 56 runs off 28 balls to help the Strikers score 121 runs while batting first against the Faf du Plessis-led Army.
This was the first five-wicket haul of this season which also boosted his wickets tally to 11 this season. Akeal has bowled consistently impressive spells in the Abu Dhabi T10 league and boasts the best economy rate of 5.18 in seven innings. He was recently released by Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad after making only one appearance in the 2023 edition.
SRH released both of their overseas spinners Adil Rashid and Akeal Hosein and traded Mayank Dagar to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Aiden Markram-led franchise signed Shahbaz Ahmed from RCB and has Washington Sundar and Mayank Markande in their spin tank ahead of the IPL 2024 player auction.
Akeal, 30, is likely to attract some bids in the IPL auction on December 19 with many teams looking to reinforce the spin attack. Akeal has taken 99 wickets in 110 T20 innings at an impressive economy rate of 6.74 so far.
