Kusal Mendis draws parallels with former star after Nuwan Thushara's stunning hat-trick

Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Thushara took a stunning hat-trick and a five-wicket haul in Sylhet to help Sri Lanka clinch the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh on Saturday, 9 March.

The 29-year-old Thushara knocked over the Tigers skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy before trapping Mahmudullah in front off successive deliveries in the fourth over of Bangladesh's run-chase to finish his hat-trick.

He went on to dismiss Soumya Sarkar in the final over of the Powerplay and later added another wicket to the tally and completed a five-wicket haul.

Thushara's was the 57th hat-trick in men's T20I history and the sixth by a Sri Lankan. Lasith Malinga has taken two of those six hat-tricks.

Thushara, whose bowling action is very similar to Malinga's, was hailed by teammate Kusal Mendis after the Player of the Match performance.

"I'm very happy for him," Mendis said.

"With the World Cup around the corner, it's great to have many of our bowlers in such form. He's been playing in franchise leagues for some time - he played well in the SA20 as well - I think that's also why he was able to give his best for the team when we needed him.

"It was those three wickets [the hat-trick] that turned the match in our favour. It reminded me of how Mali aiya [Lasith Malinga] bowled," Mendis concluded.

Opposition skipper Shanto too mirrored Mendis' views. "I agree that the whole match pivoted in that one over," Shanto said.

"He bowled a very good over. I think we have to credit the bowler. We were held back by that over. I felt that if we could have handled that over better, or generally held our own against the new ball, we could have had a different result.

"He got a bit of swing. He has that action. He wasn't getting a lot of bounce due to his side-arm action. It was keeping low. This won't happen all the time, but we have to tackle these things better in the future."

Sri Lanka now play three ODIs against Bangladesh, starting 13 March, followed by two Tests.