A hat-trick is rare, yet a cherished commodity in cricket for it is no mean task for a bowler to pick up three wickets on three consecutive deliveries. Despite the game being prevalent for over a century, there have been a very limited number of hat-tricks across formats.
In a format like T20, there are times when picking up a wicket is a daunting task, leave alone registering a hat-trick. Having said that, a total of 17 hat-tricks have been taken by the bowlers in the decade-long IPL. Before the 11th season of the IPL commences, here is the list of Top Five Hat-tricks in the IPL:
5. Laxmipathy Balaji (Chennai Super Kings) – During the inaugural season of the IPL, Laxmipathy Balaji became the first bowler to grab an IPL hat-trick. He achieved the feat during the 31st match of the season against Kings XI Punjab at Chennai.
On the back of half-centuries from Subramaniam Badrinath (64) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (60*), CSK had posted a total of 181-4 in 20 overs. Punjab’s middle-order collapse had knocked them out of the match. With four wickets in hand, they required 27 runs off the last over. After conceding a six off the first ball, Balaji came back strongly to dismiss Irfan Pathan (40), Piyush Chawla (17) and VRV Singh (0) on consecutive deliveries as Super Kings won the match by 18 runs. Balaji registered bowling figures of 4-0-24-5.
4. Amit Mishra (Deccan Chargers) – During the 67th match of IPL 2011 between Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers at Dharamsala, Amit Mishra became the second bowler after Yuvraj Singh to claim two IPL hat-tricks. After being put in to bat by Adam Gilchrist, the then Kings XI captain, Deccan Chargers scored a match-winning 198-2 in 20 overs on the back of half-centuries from Shikhar Dhawan (95) and Dwaraka Ravi Teja (60*). At the halfway mark, with eight wickets in hand, Punjab needed 122 runs from the last 10 overs. Having lost Adam Gilchrist (57) and Dinesh Karthik (11) in the following over, Punjab’s chances had diminished when Mishra dismissed Ryan McLaren (9), Mandeep Singh (7) and Ryan Harris (0) in the same over. Mishra ended up with bowling figures of 4-1-9-4.
3. Rohit Sharma (Deccan Chargers) – In what came as a huge surprise to many, during the 32nd match of IPL 2009 between Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians at Centurion, Rohit Sharma claimed his first T20 hat-trick. In their allotted quota of 20 overs, Deccan Chargers had scored 145-6. In 10 overs, Indians had scored 71-3 and required 75 runs in the next 10 overs.
Five overs down the line, the equation had further reduced to 46 runs in five overs. Adam Gilchrist’s gamble to introduce Sharma into the attack at that point in time paid off when he picked up the wickets of Abhishek Nayar (1) and Harbhajan Singh (0) on the last two deliveries of the over. Gilchrist persisted with Sharma and he did not disappoint as he dismissed the in-form JP Duminy (52) on the first ball of his second over. Sharma’s two overs read 2-0-6-4.
2. Samuel Badree (Royal Challengers Bangalore) – During the 12th match of IPL 2017 between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians at Bangalore, Samuel Badree registered his maiden IPL hat-trick which aided Royal Challengers in making a comeback into the match.
In their allotted quota of 20 overs, Bangalore had scored a below average 142-5. Badree was given the new ball by Virat Kohli. On the second delivery of his second over, Badree’s googly got the better of Parthiv Patel (7). He followed it with wickets of Mitchell McClenaghan (0) and Rohit Sharma (0) on the next two deliveries. As unfortunate as it sounds, Badree’s bowling figures of 4-1-9-4 couldn’t help RCB win the match.
1. Yuvraj Singh (Kings XI Punjab) – During the 49th match of IPL 2009 between Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab at Johannesburg, Yuvraj Singh became the first bowler to claim two IPL hat-tricks. His spell was instrumental in Punjab winning a nail-biter by 1 run.
Kumar Sangakkara’s 56 (43) had aided Punjab to score 134-7 in 20 overs. At the halfway mark, Chargers had scored 65-2. Needing 70 runs in the next 60 balls, Chargers had the upper hand on the match. On the ultimate delivery of the 12th over, Yuvraj dismissed Herschelle Gibbs (26). If this was not enough, he also got the prices wickets of Andrew Symonds (25) and Venugopal Rao (0) to dent Chargers’ progress. Yuvraj was adjourned the ‘Man of the Match’ for registering bowling figures of 4-0-13-3.
