MITCHELL JOHNSON: Pat Cummins Bangladesh hat-trick was great to watch and the day Lasith Malinga struck

Australia have another hat-trick hero in the bowling ranks after Pat Cummins joined the club this week against Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup.

I never took a hat-trick for Australia in any format, which is a shame because the joy really does last a lifetime.

It reminded me of Damien Fleming’s hat-trick on his Test debut against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. He still loves to bring it up at any opportunity and at any function it seems to be the first story that is told and it is a bloody good one!

I did manage to take a hat-trick in my younger years in club cricket in Townsville for Wanderers.

I was also right next to Peter Siddle when he got his on his 26th birthday against England at the Gabba during the 2010/11 series. It was phenomenal. The crowd went off. Siddle went off. We all went off.

A hat-trick is one of those special moments everyone enjoys and appreciates.

Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga rolled through Australia in a one-dayer in Colombo back in 2011 and I had the dubious honour of getting bowled to become the middle wicket.

Then the best part of it all was when Malinga came into our dressing room after the match with a cheeky little grin on his face, asking me and the others who were involved in the hat-trick to sign the game ball for him as a memento.

Good thing I have a sense of humour, but deep down I was hoping that one day I was able to return the favour. It was something that I brought up when we were teammates at the Mumbai Indians and his response was the same cheeky grin which made me laugh.

As a bowler, a hat-trick is like a hole-in-one in golf. You really want at least one in your life so you can brag about it forever after your career is over at functions or just at a mate’s BBQ.

Back to the World Cup and Australia will play their final two Super Eights matches, against Afghanistan and India, within 48 hours to decide their fate.

As much as I’ve enjoyed the success of some of the smaller teams at this tournament, the Super Eight stage is showing that experience really counts. The big teams such as India and Australia just know their games so well.

Look at the Aussies’ last group stage match against Scotland and how that went. Australia were under pressure bowling first on a good pitch and with Scotland getting a good total.

When it came time to bat, they were under the pump and looking down the barrel at one point but it was through knowledge, experience and not panicking under pressure that Australia were able to handle it because they’ve been in those types of situations so many times before.

As good as it is seeing the United States and Afghanistan in the mix at this stage of the tournament – and that’s great for the future of the game -- I get a sense the big teams are now in their element.

The Afghans will be fighting for their semifinal chances after their loss to the West Indies in their final group stage match was followed by another comprehensive defeat to India in the Super Eights but Australia shouldn’t take them lightly.

Afghanistan had the Aussies in huge trouble in the 50-over World Cup last year before Glenn Maxwell’s double-century heroics and they also pushed Australia all the way before losing by four runs when the teams met at Adelaide Oval during the 2022 T20 World Cup.

Coached by former England batsmen Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan have the quality to keep pushing for a semifinal spot and I really have been interested in how they have played.

There has been a lot of thought go into the way they go about it and the style they want to be known for. They have been around the big nations long enough now and have been competitive at times, just lacking a little consistency.

Afghanistan have match-winners and that’s backed up by the stats. Left-arm paceman Fazalhaq Farooqi is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament and openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran both feature high on the run-scorers list. These players certainly have gained the attention of all the top teams.

They have built a team around the spinners we have seen a lot of in the Big Bash League in Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (injured), Noor Ahmad and Mohammad Nabi, but they are now backed up by the seamers and some top-order hitting.

Afghanistan have a lot of players who have played a lot of Twenty20 cricket now. They are used to dealing with pressure situations and are looking confident in what they are doing.