Performances that don't fade away: Best hat-tricks in the IPL

Pravin Tambe’s reaction after his hat-trick against Kolkata Knight Riders

In the eight years of the Indian Premier League, the 2015 edition is yet to see a bowler claim a hat-trick in an IPL game. And unless there is some display of brilliance in the final game of the competition, the eighth edition will always be remembered as the year which didn’t see a single bowler taking three wickets off three consecutive deliveries.

However, to make up for the absence of a hat-trick this year, we go down memory lane and relive some of the more extraordinary spells of bowling that bowlers have delivered. From Ashish Nehra to Yuvraj Singh, from Amit Mishra to Sunil Narine, there have been thirteen hat-tricks over seven seasons.

Here is our selection of three hat-tricks that will never fade away from memory.

Pravin Tambe vs Kolkata Knight Riders – Ahmedabad, 2014

Kolkata Knight Riders entered this particular game having lost three on the trot – a number which would return to haunt them later in the game. Batting first, the Rajasthan Royals scored at a brisk pace right throughout their innings on a flattish Motera deck. With 171 to chase, Kolkata got off to a good start, putting up an opening stand of 121 in little under 15 overs. With seventy percent of their target chased down, few would have predicted what happened next.

In the span of two runs and eight deliveries, Kolkata Knight Riders lost six wickets to find themselves reeling at 6 for 123 after 15.2 overs. And the chief architect of that collapse? A portly figure by the name of Pravin Tambe, who, if conventional wisdom applies, should be anywhere but on a cricket field.

Tambe’s romantic IPL fairytale was capped with a magical spell where he picked up three wickets in a hat-trick that crippled the Knight Riders batting. The first wicket was of Manish Pandey, who, after being fed with a couple of dot balls, danced down the track as the wily Tambe pushed it down the leg side for Sanju Samson to complete a stumping off a wide delivery.

The next was Yusuf Pathan, who yorked himself and in the process hit one straight back at Tambe, who took a tumbling return catch. The third wicket though was the most special one, as spectators saw a jubilated 42-year-old running around the field after taking that wicket. Tambe tossed the delivery as Ryan ten Doeschate tried playing it off the front foot. The ball hit the batsman’s toe and he was gone. A shell shocked ten Doeschate stood there, more in disbelief than anything else.

Rajasthan eventually won the game, by a handsome margin of 10 runs, with Tambe being the hero.

Yuvraj Singh vs Royal Challengers Bangalore – Durban, 2009

Yuvraj Singh after his hat-trick against Royal Challengers Bangalore

The Kings XI Punjab led by the dynamic Yuvraj Singh were coming into the game with three wins on the trot, as firm favorites in this encounter against the Royal Challengers from Bangalore.

And it was Durban. The very place, Yuvraj Singh bullied Stuart Broad in 2007. But this time, there was something more magical in store. After an early stutter while batting first, the Bangalore team seemed to have consolidated with a 42-run partnership between Jacques Kallis and Robin Uthappa. When Yuvraj came on to bowl, the score read 56/3, with the Royal Challengers en route to their recovery.

It was in Yuvraj’s second over, and off the penultimate delivery, that Uthappa tried attacking the left arm orthodox bowler, holing out in the deep to Simon Katich, who completed an easy catch. In the very next ball, Yuvraj delivered an arm ball, completely foxing Kallis, who didn’t expect the ball to go on straight from where it pitched. Two in two, and the over was done.

Coming back to bowl in the fourteenth over, Yuvraj sent down another arm ball to claim his third victim, the wicket of Mark Boucher. The ball skidded off the pitch and on to Boucher’s pads as the batsman tried playing it to the on side, expecting turn. It was the fourth hat-trick in the IPL, and Yuvraj’s first. Later on, in the same season, Yuvraj would go on to take another hat-trick against the Deccan Chargers.

Amit Mishra vs Pune Warriors India – Pune, 2013

Never ever has a single player in the history of the IPL taken three hat-tricks, till Amit Mishra of Sunrisers Hyderabad decided to pull this bunny out of the hat. It was the clash of the Sri Lankans, Sangakkara on one side, Mathews on the other. In the previous game when these two teams met, the Sunrisers managed to defend a low score in style. However, neither team could have expected another low scoring thriller awaiting them.

Amit Mishra has taken three IPL hat-tricks – the only player to do so

Batting first, the Sunrisers Hyderabad were 17/4 at one stage, and then 44/6, till some middle order resistance from Biplab Samantray resurrected their innings. It was just enough to allow them to set a target of six runs per over for the Pune franchise. All throughout the chase, Pune lost regular wickets, but not once did they look like they were going to lose the low scoring contest.

In the 18th over, the score read: 101/6 and 19 runs from 3 overs seemed quite achievable considering that Angelo Mathews and Manish Pandey were still at the crease. At the end of the 18th over, the equation came down to 14 from 12, with two frontline batsmen in the middle. Then came the Mishra over that swung the match completely.

The first ball of the 19th over was played to the cover region by Pandey for a single. The next delivery was a loopy leg spinner from Mishra, and Mathews tried going big over long off. The Sri Lankan captain got a top edge and was caught in the deep. Pandey, who has already crossed over, took a single off the next delivery and gave the strike to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, a capable batsman with 12 runs needed from 9 balls.

Mishra delivered a googly first ball and it turned to hit the batsman’s pads. Kumar was gone for a duck with 12 needed from 8. Rahul Sharma, a fellow leg spinner was in next, and he tried to slog one over mid-wicket for a six only to be bowled. 12 needed from 7, and Mishra already had three.

With the hat-trick ball coming up and with fielders all around the bat, Pune just had one wicket left, having lost five in the last twelve deliveries. Ashok Dinda, the nervy batsman from Bengal tried defending the Mishra googly, played down the wrong line, and the ball crashed into the stumps. Mishra’s five deliveries had got him four wickets, and Pune had been rolled over.

The match was a career defining one for Mishra, who for a brief period made a comeback into the Indian limited overs side thanks to record breaking feat of three IPL hat-tricks. Defending 119 was always going to be difficult, irrespective of how slow the pitch was. But Mishra delivered a performance that would linger on in the memories of cricket lovers for a long time, never fading away.