9 bowlers with more than one hat-trick in international cricket

Pakistan pacer Mohammad Hasnain, on Saturday, became the youngest ever bowler to take a hat-trick in T20Is, at 19 years and 183 days. Hasnain achieved the feat in the match against Sri Lanka on Saturday when he dismissed Bhanuka Rajapaksa (32), Dasun Shanaka (17) and Shehan Jayasuriya (2) off consecutive deliveries.

The hat-trick was spread across two overs as the first wicket came from the last ball of the 16th over of Sri Lanka’s innings. Hasnain’s effort was, however, in vain as the Lankans went on to win the game by 64 runs.

Hasnain's feat aside, taking a hat-trick, be it either a Test, ODI or a T20 match is a rather difficult task. After all, how high can be the probability of a bowler picking three wickets in three balls be? Very low.

As such, very few bowlers have achieved the honour of claiming a hat-trick in international cricket. However, there are a few bowlers who have actually performed the rare feat on more than once occasion.

So, here’s a look at nine bowlers with multiple hat-tricks in international cricket.

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Lasith Malinga (5 hat-tricks)

Lasith Malinga is no stranger to hat-tricks on the international stage.

When it comes to hat-tricks in international cricket, Lasith Malinga is the king. He has an unbelievable five hat-tricks in international cricket. Malinga’s first hat-trick came in the 2007 World Cup Super Eights clash against South Africa on March 28, 2007. Chasing a low total of 210, the Proteas were cruising at 206 for 5.

Malinga dismissed Shaun Pollock and Andrew Hall off the last two balls of the 45th over and then returned to send back Jacques Kallis (86) and Makhaya Ntini off the first two balls of the 47th over, making it four wickets in four balls. South Africa, however, scraped through to victory with a streaky four from Robin Peterson.

Malinga’s second hat-trick came at the World Cup in 2011, on March 1, against Kenya in a group encounter at Colombo. Kenya were struggling at 137 for 6 when Malinga trapped Tanmay Mishra lbw with the last ball of the 42nd over and then cleaned up Peter Ongondo and Shem Ngoche with the first two balls of the 44th over.

Malinga then made it four wickets in five balls by getting last-man Elijah Otieno bowled and finished with 6 for 38 as Sri Lanka won by nine wickets.

A few months later, on August 22, 2011, Malinga picked another hat-trick against Australia in the fifth match of a bilateral series at Colombo. He dismissed Mitchell Johnson (bowled), John Hastings (lbw) and Xavier Doherty (bowled) off the 2nd, 3rd and 4th delivery of the 46th over as Australia were all out for 211 and Sri Lanka won the match by four wickets.

Lasith Malinga is the only player in the world with five international hat-tricks.

Malinga wasn’t done yet. He added two more hat-tricks in T20s as well to take his tally to five. The first one came against Bangladesh in the second T20 of a home series at Colombo on April 6, 2017. Malinga bowled Mushfiqur Rahim out for 15, cleaned up Mashrafe Mortaza and then trapped Mehidy Hasan Miraz lbw with the 3rd, 4th and 5th ball of the 19th over. Bangladesh, however, posted 176 for 9 and won the game by 45 runs.

Malinga’s most recent hat-trick came in the 3rd T20 of the series against New Zealand played at Pallekele on September 6, 2019. New Zealand were chasing a meagre 126 to whitewash Sri Lanka 3-0. Instead, Malinga rolled back the years and picked up four wickets in four balls -- sending back Colin Munro, Hamish Rutherford, Colin de Grandhomme and Ross Taylor off the last four deliveries of the third over to seal a consolation win for Sri Lanka with sensational figures of 5 for 6.

Wasim Akram (4 hat-tricks)

Wasim Akram is one of Pakistan's all-time greats at the international level.

Before Malinga, Pakistan legend Wasim Akram held the record for most hat-tricks in international cricket with four. The first one came in the second match of the Champions Trophy against West Indies at Sharjah on October 14, 1989.

Chasing 251 for victory, West Indies were in control at 209 for 5 when Akram clean bowled Jeff Dujon, Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose to leave West Indies reeling at 209 for 8. Pakistan eventually won by 11 runs.

Akram earned another hat-trick in the final of the Austral-Asia Cup at Sharjah, against Australia on May 4, 1990. Australia chasing 267 to win, were 230 for 7 in the 47th over and were in the game, if only just. However, Akram finished them off by cleaning up Merv Hughes, Carl Rackemann and Terry Alderman as Pakistan won by 36 runs.

Wasim Akram has two hat-tricks in Test cricket and two hat-tricks in ODI cricket.

The former left-arm pacer added to his list of hat-tricks during the drawn Asian Test Championship encounter at Lahore, played from March 4-8 1999. Responding to Pakistan’s first innings total of 398, Sri Lanka were well placed at 320 for 6.

With the first ball of the 83rd over, Akram had caught Romesh Kaluwitharana caught behind for exactly 100. From the next two balls, he clean bowled Niroshan Bandaratilleke and Pramodya Wickramasinghe as Sri Lanka ended their first innings on 328.

Akram’s fourth and final hat-trick came in the final of the Asian Test Championship played at Dhaka from March 12-15 1999. Trailing Pakistan by 363 runs after the first innings, things got worse for Sri Lanka in the second innings. Akram dismissed Avishka Gunawardene and Chaminda Vaas with the last two balls off the first over, and then came back to have Mahela Jayawardene caught with the first ball of the third over as Pakistan won the final by an innings and 175 runs.

Saqlain Mushtaq (2 hat-tricks)

Both of Saqlain Mushtaq's hat-tricks have come against Zimbabwe.

Saqlain Mushtaq, the man who made the doosra famous, has two hat-tricks to his name. The first one came in an ODI against Zimbabwe at Peshawar, on November 3, 1996. Pakistan made 264 for 9 in 40 overs. Due to crowd trouble, the target was revised to 225 from 34 overs.

Zimbabwe were never in the game and Saqlain feasted on the struggling batting. He had the set Grant Flower caught behind for 77 and John Rennie departed the same way. He completed the hat-trick by having Andy Whittal caught by Saleem Malik as Zimbabwe slipped from 143 for 5 to 143 for 8. Saqlain then cleaned up Gavin Rennie to make it four wickets in five balls.

Saqlain’s second hat-trick also came against Zimbabwe, this time in the World Cup, at The Oval, on June 11, 1999. After Saeed Anwar’s 103 helped Pakistan set Zimbabwe a target of 272, Saqlain helped himself to another hat-trick towards the end of Zimbabwe’s innings. With the first three balls of the 41st over, he had Henry Olonga and Adam Huckle stumped and Pommie Mbangwa lbw as Zimbabwe collapsed to 123 all out.

Chaminda Vaas (2 hat-tricks)

Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas has one hat-trick at home and one abroad.

Chaminda Vaas of the 90s claimed his first hat-trick in the first match of a triangular series at Colombo (SSC), against Zimbabwe on December 8, 2001. This was the famous match in which the Sri Lankan pace spearhead set a new record for the best bowling figures in ODIs -- 8 for 19.

Vaas dismissed Stuart Carlisle caught for 16 and then trapped Craig Wishart and Tatenda Taibu lbw to complete his hat-trick. Zimbabwe went from 27 for 3 to 27 for 6 and eventually were bundled out for 38.

Vaas picked up his second hat-trick against Bangladesh during the 2003 World Cup at Pietermaritzburg, on February 14, 2003, this time with the first three balls of the innings. The former left-arm seamer had Hannan Sarkar bowled, Mohammad Ashraful caught & bowled, Ehsanul Haque caught by Mahela Jayawardene off consecutive deliveries.

Vaas made it four wickets in five balls by trapping Sanwar Hossain lbw as Bangladesh folded up for 124 Sri Lanka went on to win by 10 wickets.

Stuart Broad (2 hat-tricks)

Stuart Broad's hat- tricks have come against teams from the sub-continent.

The England pacer claimed a hat-trick in the Nottingham Test against India held from July 29-August 1, 2011. After England made only 221 batting first, Broad’s hat-trick restricted India to 288.

He had Dhoni caught by James Anderson for 5, before trapping Harbhajan Singh lbw and then bowled Praveen Kumar out as India went from 273 for 5 to 273 for 8 and soon 288 all out. England went on to win the Test by 319 runs.

Broad’s second hat-trick came in the Test match against Sri Lanka at Leeds played from June 20-24, 2014. With the last ball of the 63rd over, he had Kumar Sangakkara caught by Ian Bell for 79. With the first two balls of the 65th over, he had Dinesh Chandimal caught by Alastair Cook and Shaminda Eranga caught behind.

The hat-trick put Sri Lanka in trouble at 229 for 9 but they recovered to win the Test by 100 runs after Angelo Mathews’ second-innings 160.

Mohammad Sami (2 hat-tricks)

Mohammad Sami was one of Pakitan's most potent bowlers in his prime.

The now-forgotten former Pakistan medium pacer also has two hat-tricks to his name. The first one came against West Indies at Sharjah during an ODI on February 15, 2002.

Chasing Pakistan’s 233 built around Shoaib Malik’s unbeaten 111, West Indies were already in trouble at 181 for 7. Bowling the 35th over, Sami first had Ridley Jacobs lbw for 1, then clean bowled Corey Collymore and Cameron Cuffy as West Indies finished on 181 all out.

Sami’s second hat-trick came less than a month later, against Sri Lanka during the final of the Asian Test Championship at Lahore, played from March 6-10, 2002. Sami claimed it either side of lunch on Day 3.

He had Charitha Buddhika lbw for 7 before lunch and Nuwan Zoysa lbw and Muttiah Muralitharan bowled after it. Kumar Sangakkara’s 230, however, led Sri Lanka to an 8-wicket victory.

Brett Lee (2 hat-tricks)

Brett Lee celebrates his hat trick after bowling out Kenya's David Obuya at the 2003 World Cup.

One of the fastest bowlers to ever play the game, Brett Lee, not surprisingly, has two hat-tricks to his name, both in World Cups across different formats. The first one was in the 2003 World Cup game against Kenya at Durban, on March 15.

With the last three balls of the fourth over of the match he clean bowled Kennedy Otieno for 1, had Brijal Patel caught by Ricky Ponting and then bowled David Obuya. Kenya managed only 174 for 8 and despite Aasif Karim’s bowling figures of 3 for 7, Australia won by five wickets.

Lee’s second hat-trick was against Bangladesh as part of the inaugural World T20 match played at Cape Town on September 16, 2007.

With the third, fourth and fifth ball of the 17th over of Bangladesh’s innings, Lee had Shakib Al Hasan caught behind for 16, Mashrafe Mortaza clean bowled, and Alok Kapali lbw. Aussies chased down 124 with ease for a thumping nine-wicket win.

Thisara Perera (2 hat-tricks)

Thisara Perera's two hat-tricks came against neighbours India and Pakistan

The Sri Lankan all-rounder also has a couple of hat-tricks to his credit. Perera claimed his first one during the fourth ODI against Pakistan at Colombo, on June 16, 2012. Chasing 244 to win, Pakistan were at 176 for 4 in the 41st over when Perera had Younis Khan caught behind for 1 before adding the scalps of Shahid Afridi and Sarfaraz Ahmed to his tally as Pakistan eventually crumbled to 199 all out.

Perera’s second hat-trick was against India during a T20 match at Ranchi, on February 12, 2016. This came towards the end of the innings, in the 19th over, when Perera had Hardik Pandya (27), Suresh Raina (30) and Yuvraj Singh (0), all caught.

India, however, had an impressive 196 for 6 on board courtesy man of the man Shikhar Dhawan’s 51 and Rohit Sharma’s 43, and went on to win the game by 69 runs.

Trent Boult (2 hat-tricks)

Trent Boult was in fantastic form at the 2019 World Cup where he bagged his latest hat-trick.

The impressive left-arm seamer from New Zealand, who can trouble the best of batsmen on his day, also has a couple of hat-tricks under his belt. The first one was against Pakistan in the first ODI of the series played at Abu Dhabi, on November 7, 2018.

New Zealand posted 266 for 9 on the board batting first, with Ross Taylor making 80 and Tom Latham 68 before Boult jolted Pakistan early in the chase. In the third over of the innings, he clean bowled Fakhar Zaman for 1 with the second delivery and, from the next two balls, had Babar Azam caught by Taylor and Mohammad Hafeez lbw. Pakistan couldn’t recover and went on to lose the game by 47 runs.

Boult’s second hat-trick came in the 2019 World Cup match against Australia at Lord's, on June 29. In the last over of the Australian innings, he had Usman Khawaja bowled for 88, Mitchell Starc cleaned up for 0 and Jason Behrendorff trapped lbw. Starc, however, claimed 5 for 26 to bowl his side victory by 86 runs.