India’s hat-trick heroes: Men who recorded W W W!
Three is cricket’s milestone number. Two is too frequent, four is too rare, three is perfect. Other than the three-figure score, the batsmen yearn to have one triple century in their Test career. For the bowlers, it’s three dismissals in three consecutive balls. Again, two wickets off two balls happen all the time and four from four has occurred only twice in the international cricket. The hat-trick though appears often enough to make it rare.
For the Indians, it has been a sweet and sour story. In ODIs, Chetan Sharma became the first bowler to claim a World Cup hat-trick whereas the nation had to wait for 69 years to celebrate its first Test hat-trick. Eight other Test teams had already accomplished the feat before India. However, in the next 18 years, India enjoyed two more hat-tricks with Jasprit Bumrah’s being the latest. Here’s an account of India’s each and every W, W, W feat.
Chetan Sharma vs New Zealand, Nagpur, 1987
Chetan Sharma
This was a group match of the 1987 World Cup between New Zealand and hosts India. The Blackcaps had a good base score of 181/5 in 41 overs before the tumble began. Bowling his sixth over, Delhi medium-pacer Chetan Sharma delivered three successive dot balls to Kane Rutherford, batting on 26. The fourth ball was a sharp in-dipper which went through the batsman’s defences. Ian Smith, facing his first ball, suffered the same fate. Ewen Chatfield faced another zinger from Sharma that castled him. This was India’s first international hat-trick! India went on to win the game by nine wickets.
Kapil Dev vs Sri Lanka, Kolkata, 1991
Kapil Dev
The Asia Cup of 1991 featured three teams – India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. India and Sri Lanka reached final with both beating Bangladesh and the island nation gunning down the Asian giant. In the final at Kolkata, Sri Lanka were already stumbling at 175/4. Kapil Dev removed Roshan Mahanama on the final ball of his over and returned to take successive wickets off the next two deliveries. Sri Lanka finished with 204/9. India chased the target down in 42.1 overs.
Harbhajan Singh vs Australia, Kolkata, 2001
Harbhajan Singh
The same Test in which VVS Laxman played his legendary knock of 281, 21-year old Harbhajan Singh became the first Indian bowler to claim a Test hat-trick. The off-spinner achieved this feat on the opening day of the game. Australia were steering safely towards a healthy score at the end of the day when the unthinkable happened. Ricky Ponting was the first to fall. Adam Gilchrist had to go back after a dubious LBW decision. Shane Warne was caught brilliantly at short leg by Sadagopan Ramesh to complete the hat-trick. Harbhajan finished the enthralling game with the match figures of 13/196.
Irfan Pathan vs Pakistan, Karachi, 2006
Irfan Pathan
The most magical of the hat-tricks! Exploiting the Karachi morning conditions to perfection, Irfan Pathan bamboozled the Pakistani top order with his banana swing. Salman Butt, the left-handed opener, edged an away going ball to Rahul Dravid on the fourth ball of the first day of the Test. The following delivery swung in sharply and found Younis Khan in front of the stumps. The hat-trick ball was even more special. Starting on the off stump line, the ball curved back and went through Mohammad Yousuf’s defence to knock back the middle stump. Despite the wonderful start, India lost by 341 runs.
Kuldeep Yadav vs Australia, Kolkata, 2017
Kuldeep Yadav
Kolkata enjoyed it’s second ODI hat-trick on 21st September 2017. India batted first and posted 252 in the second of the five-match ODI series. Australia began poorly and lost their way in the chase as the Indian bowlers tightened their grip. Hopes of winning were still alive for the Aussies when Kuldeep Yadav came on to bowl the 33rd over. The left-arm wrist-spinner sent back Matthew Wade on the second ball. Ashton Agar played all around a loopy leg break, out LBW. Kuldeep bowled the googly as his hat-trick ball which settled in MS Dhoni’s gloves after kissing Pat Cummins’ outside edge. India won the game by 50 runs.
Mohammed Shami vs England, Southampton, 2019
Mohammed Shami
Afghanistan, who had been struggling in the World Cup thus far, stopped India, who had beaten every team faced so far, for 224/8. As the chase neared its end, Mohammed Shami had 16 runs to defend in his final over. On the third ball, Mohammad Nabi skied a drive which ended in the hands of Hardik Pandya. Shami followed this up with a deadly accurate yorker that went through Aftab Alam. The bowler persisted with the yorker to the number 11, Mujeeb Ur Rehman as well. The move worked as Shami got his hat-trick and India won by 11 runs.
Jasprit Bumrah vs West Indies, Jamaica, 2019
Jasprit Bumrah
India piled up 416 runs in their first innings of the second Test. West Indies in reply started safely until Jasprit Bumrah decided to change his bowling end. In the second over of that spell, Bumrah first accounted for Darren Bravo who failed to cope up with movement at high speed. Shamarh Brooks was trapped in front of the stumps on his first ball. Roston Chase faced another inswinging ball which thudded into his pads. The bowler was not overly confident, but a review from Virat Kohli helped Bumrah celebrate his hat-trick.
Stumps and what a day it has been for India!
Firstly Hanuma Vihari made his maiden Test century followed by Ishant Sharma’s first Test fifty.
Then Jasprit Bumrah took a hat-trick and reduced West Indies to 13/4.
West Indies are 87/7 after India were bowled out for 416! pic.twitter.com/aOHu1AC4RV
— ICC (@ICC) August 31, 2019
