Pallekele (Sri Lanka), Sep 6 (IANS): Veteran Sri Lanka pacer and captain Lasith Malinga on Friday took four wickets in four balls during their third match against New Zealand here and become the first bowler to take 100 wickets in T20I cricket.
Malinga, 36, picked up the wickets of Colin Munro, Hamish Rutherford, Colin de Grandhomme and Ross Taylor in the third over to become the only bowler to have taken two hat-tricks in T20I cricket. The first time Malinga achieved this feat was against South Africa in the 2007 World Cup in a Super eight match in West Indies.
Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan was the first to grab four wickets in four deliveries in a T20I. He did it against Ireland earlier this year.
This was also Malinga's fifth hat-trick in international cricket which is the most by any bowler. Wasim Akram had four hat-tricks to his name across formats.