Hasan Ali dropped a simple catch and gave life to his Pakistan teammate Mohammad Rizwan during the BBL 2025-26 match between Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Renegades. A mistake in the opening over prevented Indian-born cricketer Xerxes Wadia from taking three wickets in his first over.
Adelaide Strikers won the bat flip and elected to bowl first against Melbourne Renegades at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, 17 January. The Strikers made two changes to their playing eleven, bringing in Wadia and Henry Thornton. Meanwhile, the Renegades added Caleb Jewell, Michael Archer and Callum Stow.
Xerxes Wadia strikes twice in two balls to give Renegades an early shock
Melbourne Renegades started their innings with Josh Brown and Tim Seifert. Adelaide Strikers started the match with spin and gave the new ball to Xerxes Wadia.
The left arm spinner hit a four on the very first ball. He dismissed Seifert for a golden duck when the batsman bowled the ball to Alex Carey, who took a sharp catch behind the stumps.
After this Wadia took another wicket on the next ball. Jake Fraser-McGurk bowled the ball straight to the bowler and was also out for a golden duck. Wadia took two wickets in two balls.
Mohammad Rizwan came fourth with Wadia’s hat-trick. Rizwan saved the hat-trick of balls by pushing the delivery safely down the ground.
Would you believe it!
Here, India-born Xerxes Wadia took a hat-trick on the first three balls of the match. #bbl15 pic.twitter.com/q36PCKoRlJ
– KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) 17 January 2026
Xerxes Wadia refused to take the third wicket after Hasan Ali dismissed the sitter
Xerxes Wadia was close to a dream opening over but missed the third wicket due to a dropped catch. Mohammad Rizwan moved forward to hit over mid-off but missed the shot. The ball went straight to Hasan Ali, who missed an easy chance, allowing Rizwan to survive and take a run.
It was still a strong start for the Adelaide Strikers, as Wadia finished the first over with two wickets for just three runs. The catch dropped in the opening over of the match deprived him of taking the third wicket.
– Drizzyat12Kennyat8 (@45kennyat7PM) 17 January 2026
Rizwan scored 17 runs in 14 balls, which included a four and a six, before being dismissed by Henry Thornton in the fourth over. Thornton bowled a slower ball and Rizwan made a mistake in attempting a sweep shot towards deep backward square leg.
Wadia completed the work in the field. He moved forward and took a clean low catch to send Rizwan back. The dismissal gave Melbourne Renegades their third wicket in the powerplay.
Playing XI of Melbourne Renegades vs Adelaide Strikers
Melbourne Renegades: Josh Brown, Tim Seifert, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mohammad Rizwan (w), Caleb Jewell, Hasan Khan, Will Sutherland (c), Sam Elliott, Brendan Doggett, Michael Archer, Callum Stowe.
adelaide strikers: Matthew Short (c), Alex Carey (w), Chris Lynn, Liam Scott, Jason Sangha, Jamie Overton, Xerxes Wadia, Hasan Ali, Henry Thornton, Lloyd Pope, Tabraiz Shamsi.
Melbourne Renegades were 71 for 8 after 13 overs after being asked to bat first by Adelaide Strikers at Adelaide Oval. In the current Big Bash League, both the teams are already out of the race for the playoffs, but the Strikers dominated the competition with the ball from the beginning.
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