5 part-time bowlers who picked up hat-tricks

A hat-trick is considered to be one of the most incredible feats in cricket, irrespective of the format being played. While there are days when bowlers are not even able to claim a single wicket, there are occasions when some manage to pick up three of them, that too in successive deliveries.

Normally, it is the genuine bowlers who are expected to achieve the distinction of bagging a hat-trick. However, there have been a few instances when part-time bowlers who foxed the opposition batsmen and managed to pull off this feat. This is something has happened in both international and domestic cricket.

Here are 5 part-time bowlers who have hat-tricks under their belt:

5. JP Duminy

South Africa's JP Duminy has been around for as many as 12 years in international cricket and has represented his country across all formats of the game. His role in the team is predominantly that of a batsman but he is often used often for his off-spin bowling. Duminy is one of the rare part-time bowlers to have bagged a hat-trick in international cricket.

The Proteas cricketer managed to achieve this feat in his team's quarter-final match in the 2015 ICC World Cup against Sri Lanka. Duminy began by picking up the wicket of opponent skipper Angelo Mathews off the last ball of his 8th over. In his next over, the offie picked the wickets of Nuwan Kulasekara and Tharindu Kaushal from his first 2 balls to complete a hat-trick.

Incidentally, JP Duminy's feat was only the 2nd time in ODI cricket that a South African bowler took a hat-trick.

4. Alok Kapali

Kapali was the first bowler from his country to get a hat-trick

Alok Kapali is a cricketer who represented Bangladesh throughout all formats in the early 2000s. In all, he played 17 Tests, 69 ODIs and 7 T20Is for his country and his role was more of a middle-order batsman who could bowl some overs. However, Kapali is the first Bangladeshi bowler to have taken a Test hat-trick.

He grabbed this milestone in a Test match against Pakistan back in the year 2003. Brought in to bowl towards the end of the Pakistani 1st innings, Alok Kapali used his leg-breaks to get rid of Shabbir Ahmed and Danish Kaneria off the last 2 deliveries of his second over. On the first ball of his third, he accounted for Umar Gul and brought an end to the innings.

This was perhaps one of the few known occasions when a part-timer managed to claim a hat-trick in Tests.

3. Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma won the Deccan Chargers a match with his hat-trick

India's Rohit Sharma is one of the top limited-overs batsmen in world cricket at present. His exploits with the bat for his national team and also for his IPL side, Mumbai Indians, have won him plenty of accolades from all quarters. Apart from being a prolific batsman, Rohit is also a handy part-time spinner who can contribute a few overs.

One of the surprising milestones that the stylish batsman has achieved in his career is that of claiming an IPL hat-trick. Playing for Deccan Chargers against the team that he would represent in the future, Rohit Sharma was brought in to bowl the 16th over of the match. He picked up Abhishek Nayar and Harbhajan Singh off the fifth and final balls of the over.

Off the first ball of his following over, Sharma removed set batsman JP Duminy, too, and set his team on the course to a 19-run victory.

2. Vivian Richards

One of Viv Richards’s unlikely achievements is a List-A hat-trick

Legendary West Indian cricketer Vivian Richards is considered to be one of the greatest cricketers to have ever played the game. Richards is remembered mainly for his memorable deeds with the bat in hand but he was also a decent bowler and was employed every now and then to roll his arm over.

One of the lesser known facts about the iconic cricketer is the fact that he has a List-A hat-trick to his name. Richards, who played for Somerset, pulled off this feat in a match against Essex at Chelmsford. It was a 40-over match which had been reduced to a 10-over affair and the Antiguan master grabbed a hat-trick during his spell of 4 for 9.

1. Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh claimed two hat-tricks in a single IPL season

Yuvraj Singh's bowling may have been a crucial factor in India winning the 2011 ICC World Cup but he is known more for being an explosive batsman. Despite being a part-timer, Yuvraj has some incredible bowling feats to his name, the most prominent one being his two hat-tricks in the 2009 edition of the IPL.

The first of them came in a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Durban, albeit in a losing cause. Yuvraj Singh dismissed Robin Uthappa and Jacques Kallis on the last two balls of the 12th over and returned in his next over to get rid of Mark Boucher to complete his hat-trick.

Yuvraj's second IPL hat-trick came later in the tournament when Kings XI Punjab played eventual champions Deccan Chargers. Even though his team was defending a modest total of 134, he used his left-arm spin to get rid of Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds and Y Venugopal Rao off three consecutive deliveries.

This special effort from Yuvraj Singh saw his team complete a 1-run victory over their opponents.