Hasan Mahmud wrote his name into Bangladesh cricket history on October 11, taking a hat-trick on the third day of the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi — the first time a fast bowler from Bangladesh has achieved the feat in the format’s history, and only the third Bangladeshi player of any kind to manage it.
Three balls, three wickets
Mahmud’s hat-trick came in a single over: he first had Ismat Alam bowled, his off stump uprooted, before dismissing Qais Ahmad and then Zia-ur-Rehman with the next two deliveries. The Zia-ur-Rehman wicket was initially given not out on the field before being overturned on review — a decision Mahmud credited to the encouragement of his captain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and wicketkeeper Litton Das, both of whom pushed him to send the appeal upstairs. Mahmud finished the innings with figures of 5 for 55 from 21 overs, the key spell in a match Bangladesh had pushed firmly in their favor.
Joining a short, exclusive list
The achievement places Mahmud alongside just two other Bangladeshi players to have taken a Test hat-trick: Alok Kapali, who did it against Pakistan in 2003, and Sohag Gazi, who managed it against New Zealand in 2013. Neither of those two were fast bowlers, which is what makes Mahmud’s version of the feat historically distinct — the first time a Bangladeshi quick, rather than a spinner, has run through a batting order in three consecutive deliveries in the sport’s oldest format.
Part of a breakout year
The hat-trick is the latest marker in what has become a standout year for Mahmud. Earlier in 2026, in August, he took a nine-wicket haul in Bangladesh’s Test win over Australia in Darwin — a result that remains one of the most significant away victories in Bangladeshi Test history. Taken together, the two performances suggest a bowler hitting a career peak at exactly the moment Bangladesh need an attacking spearhead who can produce match-defining spells against both the game’s traditional powers and its emerging Test nations.
The bigger match situation
Mahmud’s hat-trick came as Bangladesh built toward a commanding position in the Test, having posted 346 in their first innings before Afghanistan were bowled out for 240. By the end of the third day, Bangladesh had reached 223 for 6 in their second innings, stretching their overall lead to 329 — a position from which Mahmud’s wickets, and Bangladesh’s broader bowling effort, had put the tourists in deep trouble chasing what would ultimately become a very large target on the final day.
His own account of the spell
Mahmud described the experience simply afterward: “It’s an amazing feeling,” he said, adding that he had focused on his process — bowling upright and using the seam movement off the surface — rather than chasing the moment itself. Notably, he said he felt no particular nerves going into the spell despite having taken only a single wicket the day before, crediting a mindset of trusting the conditions: as he put it, the plan was simply to “let the ball do the job.”
Why this Test matters beyond the hat-trick
The match itself carries broader significance as Bangladesh’s first-ever Test appearance in the UAE, played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi as part of a wider multi-format tour that also includes a tri-nation ODI series against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe later in October. For Afghanistan, still a developing Test nation working to establish itself in the five-day format, facing a Bangladesh attack firing on all cylinders — with Mahmud at the spearhead — was always going to be a stern examination, and that examination got considerably harder the moment his hat-trick fell.
What’s next
With Bangladesh holding a commanding lead heading into the match’s closing stages, the result appeared to be trending firmly in their favor, and Mahmud’s figures are likely to feature prominently in the final reckoning regardless of the eventual outcome. Beyond this match, Mahmud now carries the kind of statement performance — on top of his nine-wicket haul in Darwin — that marks him as Bangladesh’s leading fast-bowling threat heading into a packed schedule that includes the UAE tri-series and, further down the road, World Test Championship assignments where his form will be needed most.
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