On Monday, while playing against Kolkata Knight Riders for the Rajasthan Royals, spin sensation Yuzvendra Chahal became the 19th bowler in the history of IPL to claim a hat-trick.
KKR were chasing a total in excess of 215 to win the match. But Aaron Finch and Shreyas Iyer's brilliant knocks kept them ahead of Rajasthan for most of the second innings. Just when it appeared like the game was slipping from the hands of the Royals, Chahal bowled a match-winning over of four wickets including the hat-trick. This completely changed the course of the game and took the Royals over the line.
The fact that only 21 hat-tricks have been taken in the IPL since its inception in 2008 is proof that taking three wickets off three consecutive balls is no mean feat.
Let's roll back years to recall who the other hat-trick takers in the IPL are.
The first bowler to take a hat-trick in the IPL is Laxmipathy Balaji. What was more special about this hat-trick was that it came in the final over when Punjab Kings needed 27 to win. Balaji, playing for Chennai Super Kings, finished the game with figures of 5 for 24 and helped his team go over the line. The other two bowlers to pick up a hat-trick that season were Amit Mishra and Makhaya Ntini. Mishra later went on to pick two more hat-tricks in his IPL career, which we will discuss later in the article.
In the second season of IPL, i.e. in 2009, Yuvraj Singh picked up two hat-tricks while playing for Punjab Kings. Rohit Sharma, best known for his batting, also took a hat-trick that season while playing for the Deccan Chargers. The Chargers had opted to bat first in Centurion and managed only 145/6 in 20 overs. Mumbai Indians were at 103/4 in the 16th over while chasing the target. But a match-winning 16th over by Rohit changed the complexion of the game. He dismissed Abhishek Nayar and Harbhajan Singh on the final two balls of the 16th over. He then removed a well set JP Duminy in the first ball of the next over.
Over the next three seasons from 2010 to 2012, only three bowlers were able to take a hat-trick. Praveen Kumar did it in 2010, Amit Mishra in 2011 and Ajit Chandila in 2012. This was the second IPL hat-trick for Mishra.
In 2013, Mishra bagged his third hat-trick to become the only bowler till date to have three hat-tricks in the IPL. That season, KKR's mystery spinner Sunil Narine also took a hat-trick.
In 2014, the hat-trick was taken by Shane Warne and Pravin Tambe, both of whom played for the Rajasthan Royals. Warne, who passed away earlier this year, led the Royals to the title in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008. That is also RR's only IPL title till date. The spin wizard played 55 matches for the franchise from 2008 and 2011 and bowled several match-winning spells. Warne also served as the mentor of the Royals after hanging his boots as a player.
After 2014, the next hat-trick came in 2016 when Axar Patel, playing for the Punjab team bowled a spell of 4/21 including a hat-trick against Gujarat Lions.
Next year in 2017, there were three hat-tricks that we saw in the IPL. Jaydev Unadkat, Andrew Tye and Samuel Badree were the three bowlers to achieve the feat.
We next saw the hat-trick in the 2019 season when Shreyas Gopal and Sam Curran achieved the feat.
Most recently in IPL 2021, RCB's Harshal Patel took a hat-trick against the Mumbai Indians. Patel, the Purple Cap winner last year, dismissed Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, and Rahul Chahar in the first three balls of the 16th over.
