'I was relaxed before the hattrick ball'

A sunglass-clad Taskin Ahmed basked in the glory of a rare feat in this morning at the Aliya Resort and Spa in Dambulla today.

Yesterday's second ODI may have been a damp squib after rain at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium caused the match to be abandoned and preserve Bangladesh's 1-0 lead, but there was time enough for Taskin to become the fifth Bangladesh bowler to take a hattrick in ODI cricket.

Strangely enough, according to Taskin, he was visualising the feat before he enacted it.

"I was imagining all of this while I was fielding in the previous over," Taskin told reporters moments before boarding the team bus to Colombo, where Bangladesh will play the third and final ODI on April 1. "By the grace of Allah, it all transpired like I had planned."

While the hattrick was taken in the last over when the slog was on and the first two wickets of Asela Gunaratne and Suranga Lakmal fell to slogs, Taskin had to muster the resolve to bowl a perfect delivery to number eleven Nuwan Pradeep. The ball was just short of yorker length and fast on middle stump, and it burst through the gap to crash into the stumps.

"I missed a lot of hattrick chances before, but this time I was a lot relaxed before the hattrick ball. It just felt right, that I will get it this time. And it happened."