Recapping all 13 hat-tricks in Indian Premier League history

Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 8th edition didn’t experience any hat-trick this time around. This season did see some terrific bowling performance by new and old bowlers, but no one could credit 3 consecutive wickets milestone in their pocket. So far, 13 hat-tricks have been taken in all the seasons.The IPL is associated with excitement because of the runs that get hammered by nearly all batsmen, but it has also given bowling lovers a chance to celebrate bowling accomplishments. Taking a hat-trick in any match where almost 8 to 9 runs per over are scored continuously without any fear is a big task. And for such big tasks we need special players who are smart with each delivery they bowl.Amit Mishra is the only player in IPL history to get a hat-trick thrice, and following him is Yuvraj Singh who did it twice. Relive the art as we revisit the 13 IPL hat-tricks achieved so far:

#1 Lakshmipathy Balaji (CSK)

Date: May 10, 2008 (CSK v KXIP)

Lakshmipathy Balaji was hailed in the starting of his career as the next big thing of India. But his dreams shattered soon with his injuries that asked him to be inconsistent and not being available for the selections. But the Balaji magic was out soon in the very first season of the IPL when he trumped IPL's first-ever hat-trick playing against Kings XI Punjab in 2008.

Chasing 182, Punjab looked in total control with Shaun Marsh leading their attack before Balaji got him caught on mid-on. And soon later, when the set Sarwan was looking dangerous, Balaji bowled him out. After that, it was all about CSK and Balaji's superb wicket-aimed deliveries. Bowling the last over of the innings, he took back-to-back 3 wickets (I Pathan, P Chawla and VRV Singh) by making it a hat-trick to demolish KXIP on 163 i.e. 18 runs short of the target.

The Chennai Super Kings' right arm bowler bowled excellent 4 overs and took 5 wickets by giving away just 24 runs.

#2 Amit Mishra (DD)

Date: May 15, 2008 (DD v DC)

Five days after L Balaji dismantled KXIP's batting single-handedly; it was Delhi Daredevils' (DD) Amit Mishra's turn. DD set 194 runs target for the Deccan Chargers (DC).

DC batting second got a really high-voltage start with Shahid Afridi and Adam Gilchrist. The Hyderabad side looked strong and comfortable until Mishra struck Afridi in the 6th over. Herschelle Gibbs came next and added more runs before the leggie uprooted his middle stump.

Match came into the final over with 15 needed off the last 6 balls and calm Mishra was brought into the attack. He struck in first ball itself, flat hit by Teja found long-off fielder. And then in a hurry for runs, next batsmen RP Singh and P Ojha lost their wickets hurriedly in the very first ball they played giving a hat-trick to Amit Mishra. DD won the match by 12 runs. The leg-spinner finished with 5 wickets by giving away just 17 runs in 4 overs.

#3 Makhaya Ntini (CSK)

Date: May 18, 2008 (KKR v CSK)

Chennai Super Kings's (CSK) Makhaya Ntini was just aiming for the stumps in this match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Ntini struck twice in his first spell, dismissing opener M Hafeez caught at fine leg and then captain S Ganguly trying to move out and played it over bowled with ball going directly to stumps. KKR skipper's wicket came of the last ball of Ntini's second over.

Next, when KKR were looking comfortable after a good 94 runs stand, South African was brought in with a prospect of much-needed wicket and he didn't disappoint. D Das and D Hussey were bowled on two back-to-back pacey deliveries allowing Ntini to take his very first IPL hat-trick.

Right-arm fast bowler plucked 4 wickets from his 4 overs by giving mere 21 runs. Chennai won the match later

#4 Yuvraj Singh (KXIP)

Date: May 1, 2009 (RCB v KXIP)

Yuvraj's special arm-ball deliveries took off almost all the batsmen he bowled. RCB trying to get stable by batting first was facing a new Yuvraj with the ball. He knew what batsman going to play next and bowl according which got him his career’s first hat-trick.

First, R Uthappa getting frustrated with his dot balls game made bowler's mind clear that he'll be attacking the every delivery and Yuvraj sensed it right and bowl him a floated delivery where Uthappa step up to play and mistimed it to deep mid-wicket fielded.

Strike changed and it was last ball of the over, J Kallis came and left-arm spinner bowled one the best arm-ball delivery of his life by getting Kallis bowled through his defence.It was the hat-trick delivery when he started his next over and he got wicket of Mark Boucher with the same arm-ball skidding through and clipping the pad in front of the stumps, leaving umpire with no choice besides raising his finger. KXIP skipper took 3 wickets and scored smashing 50 off 36 balls but still couldn't save his side by the defeat.

#5 Rohit Sharma (DC)

Date: May 6, 2009 (DC v MI)

We all love his batting. The Mumbai Indians’ captain exuberates sheer elegance and class. He has been one of the top performers in IPL’s history. But in 2009 when he was then a part of the Deccan Chargers, he not only performed with the bat but also with the ball, so much so that he took a hat-trick against Mumbai Indians in the 32nd match of IPL 2009.

After posting a total of 145 Deccan Chargers had the task of defending their total. Sharma made 38, giving some volume to their score. MI team had stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasurya, and DC had to perform well with the ball. MI was reduced to 7-2, but soon added 53 runs for the 3rd wicket thanks to J.P Duminy and Pinal Shah’s partnership.

Mumbai were quite comfortably placed, when Adam Gilchrist the then Captain of DC thought of using Rohit Sharma’s off –spin against MI in the 16th over. He dismissed Abhishek Nayar of the second last ball of the over for one, and then took Harbhajan Singh’s wicket who could be dangerous with his hard hitting shots. Rohit had done his job and DC now had to just attack to win. After coming back in the 18th over for his hat-trick ball, he bowled a straight delivery, Duminy played backwards on the leg but got an inside edge and Gilchrist was quick with the stumping. Rohit Sharma took a hat-trick and the crowd erupted. He also removed Tiwary of the 3rd ball of the over. MI lost the match by 19 runs. Rohit was declared man of the match with 38 runs and bowling figures of 2-0-6-4.

#6 Yuvraj Singh (KXIP)

Date: May 17, 2009 (KXIP v DC)

After his first hat-trick 16 days back, Yuvraj Singh did it yet again by clinching another ripper hat-trick. And this time his team also won.

It was Yuvraj's second over's final delivery when Piyush Chawla took the catch at the cover-point region to get rid of dangerous Herschelle Gibbs. Andrew Symonds was on strike when Yuvraj came to bowl his third over, wanted to play for a cheeky single on the on side Symonds moves out from the crease to play but misses the sliding ball which was then collected by brilliant Kumar Sangakkara who didn't miss the stumps on time. The hat-trick ball was the magical arm-ball which deceived Venugopal Rao completely to the stumps.

#7 Praveen Kumar (RCB)

Date: March 18, 2010 (RCB v RR)

It was the first and the only hat-trick of IPL 3. Rajasthan Royals were struggling with their batting and Praveen Kumar added majorly to their woes. Bowling the 17th over he did not have an ideal start by bowling a wide and then was hit by a boundary by Damien Martyn. But Kuma battled against the bad start and followed up with a fiery delivery that rattled the Australian and was bowled. He followed it up with a well delivered bouncer, it was too much to handle for debutant Sumit Narwal and hit it to the fine leg offering a catch to Manish Pandey. The hat-trick ball was a straight delivery by Kumar and Paras Dogra couldn’t play it well and got bowled, helping the UP bowler achieve his hat-trick. RCB reduced RR to a mere 92 and they chased it with 10 wickets win.

Kumar said that after taking the second wicket he was sure he would get a hat-trick as he had decided to bowl a length ball and was also prepared to be hit, in case Dogra would connect the ball well.

#8 Amit Mishra (DC)

Date: May 21, 2011 (KXIP v DC)

Amit Mishra took his second IPL hat-trick against Kings XI Punjab, in a do or die game for the Punjab side to qualify for the semi-finals. Shikhar Dhawan scored 95 in DC’s innings and took their total to a humungous 198. In this extremely difficult chase Punjab had to face Amit Mishra’s brilliant bowling. In the 16th over of the match the leg-spinner dismissed Ryan McLaren(caught), Mandeep Singh (stumped) and Ryan Harris(Caught) of the 3rd, 4th and the 5th delivery respectively. DC won by a huge margin of 82 runs and Mishra shined with figures of 4/9.

#9 Ajit Chandila (RR)

Date: May 13, 2012 (RR v PWI)

His name is famous for being involved in the spot-fixing racket, but prior to that, he had impressed with his bowling skills. A not very known name, the then RR captain Rahul Dravid had even failed to remember his name during the toss. But, Chandaliya made sure that people would remember him thereafter. The Haryana spinner was handed the new ball; his action not being known to the Pune batsmen, Jesse Ryder became his first victim. Second wicket was of Captain Sourav Ganguly’s when he was stumped attempting to nudge the ball.

He completed his over with his second wicket and came back to bowl his hat-trick ball after an over. His final prey was Robin Uthappa who tried to come forward and hit it straight when the ball was caught by the wicket-keeper and Robin was shown the way. It was the only hat-trick of 2012. Chadaliya was declared the Man of the Match with figures of 4/13.

#10 Sunil Narine (KKR)

Date: April 16, 2013 (KXIP v KKR)

KKR’s Sunil Narine took the magical 3 wickets against KXIP in an away match. He dismissed the dependable David Hussey (caught), Azhar Mahmood (caught and bowled) and Gulkeerat Singh (bowled) by claiming hat-trick in the 15th over of the last 3 deliveries.

This was a first hat-trick by a KKR bowler and the 10th in IPL so far, also the first one of 2013. Even Narine’s hat-trick couldn’t save KKR and they lost the match by 4 runs.

#11 Amit Mishra (SRH)

Date: April 17, 2013 (PWI v SRH)

Amit Mishra became the first bowler in IPL history to take a hat-trick of hat-tricks! His third hat-trick came against PWI in a low scoring match where SRH had to defend a meagre total of 120 runs. In the 19th over of the Pune chase Mishra took Bhuvaneshwar Kumar’s wicket(LBW) followed by Rahul Sharma’s wicket who he bowled out and finally scalped Ashok Dinda to be clean bowled, hence completing his hat-trick and winning the match for SRH. He is the only bowler to have 3 hat-tricks under his belt in IPL.

#12 Pravin Tambe (RR)

Date: May 4, 2014 (RR v KKR)

This 43-year-old leg-spinner got a very rare two-ball hat-trick against KKR in Motera. Two ball hat-trick, because he got a hat-trick only of 2 legal deliveries as his first ball was adjudged as wide. His first ball in the 16th over was a googly which was a wide, but Manish Pandey advanced a quite a bit to be stumped by Sanju Samson. Then with his 2 legal deliveries he dismissed Yusuf Pathan and Ryan Ten Doeschate successively, becoming the only player to take a two-ball hat-trick in IPL ever and only the second time in T20 history.

He finished with figures of 3/26.

#13 Shane Watson (RR)

Date: May 9, 2014 (RR v SRH)

Captain of Rajasthan Royals, Shane Watson claimed his hat-trick against SRH and was the second hat-trick of the season from RR after Pravin Tambe’s. Watson bowled the 4th over of the innings and took Shikhar Dhawan’s wicket of the last ball. He came in to bowl the 17th over directly and dismissed Moises Henriques and Karn Sharma, claiming his very “technical” hat-trick. He finished with his IPL career best figures of 3/13 but in vein as RR couldn’t chase a score of 135 and were bowled out for 102.

Rajasthan Royals is the only team to have 3 bowlers with hat-tricks in IPL.