Dasun Shanaka replicates Lasith Malinga, picks up four wickets in four balls in MLC 2026 match

Sri Lankan veteran Dasun Shanaka was the star with the ball for Seattle Orcas in the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2026 game against Texas Super Kings on Sunday. In the last over of the game, Texas needed 15 runs with five wickets in hand, and Shubham Ranjane hit Shanaka for a first-ball boundary and followed it up with a single. The equation now reads 10 runs to win from four balls.

That’s when Dasun’s carnage began. The bowler first got rid of Donovan Ferreirawho went for a swing across the line and was castled. Next ball, Calvin Savage didn’t pick a leg-cutter from the Sri Lankan and hit the ball straight down Shimron Hetmyer’s throat at long-on.

A hat trick was completed in the next ball when Adam Milne went for a big shot and got a thick outside edge. Tim Seifert, who was earlier standing up to the stumps, had gone back before the delivery could be bowled to complete an easy catch.

The fourth wicket was special as Hetmyer pulled off the best catch of the MLC 2026 season. Amshi de Silva went for a wild slog but didn’t get the distance, and the West Indian ran in from long on and dove in front to complete a sensational catch.

Sri Lankan star joins special list

The 34-year-old Shanaka joined fellow Sri Lankan star Lasith Malinga to become one of the few bowlers to take four wickets in four balls. Former Mumbai Indians star had achieved the feat during the T20I vs New Zealand that was played in Pallekele in 2019. Malinga ended the night with figures of 5/6 and won the Player of the Match award.

Incidentally, Seifert, who was Seattle’s wicketkeeper on Sunday, was one of Lasith’s scalps that night. Rashid Khan has also achieved this feat against Ireland in 2019 during a T20I match in Dehradun. On the domestic front, India’s former pacer Abhimanyu Mithun and Andre Russell have been able to claim this achievement.

Players from full-member nations who have taken four wickets in four balls in T20I cricket

Rashid Khan for Afghanistan vs Ireland in 2019

Lasith Malinga – Sri Lanka vs New Zealand

Curtis Campher for Ireland vs Netherlands in 2021

Jason Holder vs England in 2022