T20 World Cup 2022, Day 3 Stats Round-Up: Karthik Meiyappan’s hat-trick, UAE’s joint-lowest total in T20Is, and other stats

Karthik Meiyappan grabbed the headlines as the UAE spinner became the fifth bowler to claim a hat-trick in the T20 World Cups. His feat came against Sri Lanka in Geelong. However, his hat-trick went in vain as the Lankan Lions defeated UAE by 79 runs in a one-sided affair courtesy of a half-century from Pathum Nissanka and three wickets each from pacer Dushmantha Chameera and spin wizard Wanindu Hasaranga.

Talking about how the match panned out, skipper Chundangapoyil Rizwan won the toss and elected to field first. Kusal Mendis, who opened the innings with  Pathum Nissanka, made 18 while Dhananjaya de Silva scored 33 off 21. Nissanka held the innings together from one end while Sri Lanka kept losing their wickets from the other end.

Meiyappan etched his name into the record books when he took three scalps off three successive deliveries in the 15^th over. Charith Asalanka’s horror run in T20Is continued as he and captain Dasun Shanaka both bagged golden ducks, with both falling to Meiyappan. Nissanka got dismissed on the penultimate delivery of the innings for 74 off 60 as Sri Lanka reached 152/8 in 20 overs.

Speedster Chammera broke the back of UAE’s batting line-up as he took three quick wickets right at the start of the run-chase. UAE struggled to get any sort of momentum as they lost their way completely. Hasaranga joined the party and chipped in with figures of 3/8 in four overs including a maiden. Maheesh Theekshana also snared two scalps as UAE got bundled out for just 73 in 17.1 overs.

The Asian side bounced back in style after their shocking loss to Namibia in the opening encounter of the World Cup. With two straight losses, United Arab Emirates are all but knocked out of the competition. For his match-winning fifty, Nissanka won the Player of the Match award. 

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Match 6 in Group A between Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates in T20 WC 2022:

5 – Karthik Meiyappan became the fifth bowler to claim a hat-trick in T20 World Cup competitions. Brett Lee against Bangladesh in 2007, Kagiso Rabada against England, Curtis Campher against the Netherlands, and Wanindu Hasaranga against South Africa, all in 2021, are the other four bowlers to achieve the feat.

52 – Dushmantha Chameera reached the milestone of 50 wickets in T20Is.

74 – Pathum Nissanka registered his second-best score of 74 in T20 internationals. His innings of 75 against India in Dharamsala this year tops the chart.

73 – United Arab Emirates recorded its joint-lowest score of 73 in T20Is. They posted the same score against the Netherlands in ICCA Dubai in 2016.

9 – Charith Asalanka has scored just nine runs in his last five T20I innings.

8 – Nissanka is now tied with Kusal Mendis in the second spot for hitting the most 50-plus scores (8) by a Sri Lankan opener in T20Is. Tilakaratne Dilshan occupies the top position for smashing 14 such scores.

5 – Nissanka also equaled Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara at the top for slamming the most 50-plus scores (5) by a Sri Lankan in T20Is in a calendar year. Both Dilshan and Sangakkara hit as many scores in the same year in 2009.

50 – Vritya Aravind appeared in his 50^th international match.

4 – UAE scripted the fourth-lowest total of 73 by a team against Sri Lanka in T20 internationals. Netherlands socred 39 and 44 in 2014 and 2021 respectively, while New Zealand got bowled out for 60 in 2014. Interestingly, all four totals have come in T20 World Cup competitions.