A Brief Summary of All the hat-tricks by Indian bowlers in international cricket

Deepak Chahar became the first Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in T20I cricket recently.

Taking a hat-trick in international cricket is a big feat for any bowler. To take three wickets in three consecutive balls in any international match takes a lot of skills and luck to achieve and that’s the reason we see hat-tricks quite rarely.

However, there have been instances where bowlers have taken multiple hat-tricks as well, the most well-known instances being that of Lasith Malinga, who has a total of five hat-tricks across ODI and T20I cricket, while Wasim Akram was the first to take two hat-tricks each in Tests and ODI cricket. Malinga is also the only bowler to take four wickets in four balls twice, once in ODIs and once in a T20I match.

As far as Indian bowlers are concerned, the country has three hat-tricks in Test cricket, four in ODIs and recently Deepak Chahar became the first Indian to take a T20I hat-trick. Keeping that in mind, let's have a brief look back at all the hattricks taken by Indian bowlers in international cricket.

TEST CRICKET:

Harbhajan Singh vs Australia, Eden Gardens-Kolkata, 2001
Victims-Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne

Though India played their first-ever Test in 1932, it was not until 2001 when Harbhajan Singh became the first Indian to take a hat-trick in Test cricket. The occasion was the historic Test at Kolkata in the unforgettable series against Australia.

Steve Waugh had hit a brilliant 110 as Australia took control in the Test in the 1^st innings. However, they could have made more than 445 if not for the Turbanator, who in the 72^nd over of the innings, picked a historic hat-trick. He started by trapping Ricky Ponting plumb in front of the stumps for 6 runs and then repeated the mode of dismissal with Adam Gilchrist.

The trap was set for Shane Warne, as Harbhajan bowled on his legs, Warne turned the ball into the hands of S Ramesh at the forward short leg, who took a brilliant catch which was confirmed by third umpire and history was created.

Here is the video:

Irfan Pathan vs Pakistan, National Stadium- Karachi, 2006
Victims- Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf

Irfan Pathan made history during India’s tour to Pakistan in 2006 during the 3^rd Test match in Karachi. India had won the toss and put Pakistan in to bat first and Pathan was handed the ball for the first over. The first three balls went without much action, but on the fourth ball, Pathan had Butt caught by Dravid in slips, then Younis Khan misread an inswinger and was caught in front of his stumps.

Mohammad Yousuf missed a similar delivery and had his stumps clattered by Pathan, who became the first-ever bowler to take a hat-trick in the first over of a Test match and remains the only one to achieve this feat to this date.

Here is the video:

Jasprit Bumrah vs West Indies, Sabina Park, Kingston- Jamaica, 2019
Victims- Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase

Jasprit Bumrah had a brilliant 2018 when he made his Test debut in South Africa and picked five-wicket hauls in South Africa, England, and Australia in Tests and showed that despite his unique action, he was impressed with the red ball as well.

India traveled to West Indies after the World Cup ended and in the second Test in Jamaica, Bumrah became the third Indian to pick a Test hat-trick. He removed Darren Bravo to a catch in slips by KL Rahul, while Shamarh Brooks and Roston Chase were trapped LBW with sharp in-cutters bowled at a high pace. However, the third wicket must be credited to captain Virat Kohli, who called for DRS review despite Bumrah being not so sure.

The replay proved Kohli right and Bumrah created history with the red ball.

Here is the video:

ODI CRICKET

Chetan Sharma vs New Zealand, VCA Stadium-Nagpur, 1987 World Cup
Victims- Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith, Ewen Chatfield

The very first hat-trick by an Indian bowler came in the 1987 Reliance World Cup in India. New Zealand faced India in an important match at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. New Zealand was looking good for a decent score when Chetan Sharma removed Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield for the very first hat-trick in World Cup history and also by an Indian in ODI cricket.

The interesting part of the hat-trick was that it was an all bowled hat-trick by Chetan Sharma and as India chased 222 for the win, Sunil Gavaskar hit his first and only ODI century, scoring 103 in just 88 balls with 10 fours and 3 sixes.

Here is the video:

Kapil Dev vs Sri Lanka, Eden Gardens- Kolkata, 1991
Victims- Roshan Mahanama, Rumesh Ratnayake, Sanath Jayasuriya

Kapil Dev was in the fag end of his career when India played Sri Lanka in the final of the 1990-91 Asia Cup tournament. In front of more than 50,000 people at the Eden Gardens Kapil Dev removed Roshan Mahanama as he edged to Kiran More on the last ball of an over and then came back to take the wickets of Rumesh Ratnayake, caught by Sanjay Manjrekar and Sanath Jayasuriya was trapped LBW to take his one and only hat-trick in international cricket, which went completely unnoticed.  Unfortunately, there is no video of his hat-trick.

Kuldeep Yadav vs Australia, Eden Gardens- Kolkata, 2017
Victims-Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins

We return to Kolkata after 26 years and India plays Australia in 2^nd ODI of the 5-match series. India made 252 batting first on the back of Virat Kohli’s 92 and Rahane’s 55. In reply, Australia struggled all the way thanks to some brilliant bowling by Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, but the crowning achievement came by Kuldeep Yadav.

In the 33^rd over, Yadav had Wade playing onto his stumps and then caught Ashton Agar in front of his stumps. On the third ball, he had Pat Cummins caught by Dhoni off a wrong’un and became the third Indian to take a hat-trick in ODIs.

Here is the video:

Mohammad Shami vs Afghanistan, the Rose Bowl- Southampton, 2019 World Cup
Victims- Mohammad Nabi, Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Afghanistan was giving India a tough fight in their ICC World Cup 2019 encounter at Southampton. India had barely managed 224 runs with the fifties from Kohli and Jadhav. Then despite keeping an upper hand in the match, Mohammad Nabi threatened to take Afghanistan past the finishing line, as they needed 18 runs off the last over.

Mohammad Shami was given the ball and was hit for a four off the first ball, but he had Nabi caught by Hardik on the boundary going for the same shot and then clean bowled Aftab Alam and Mujeeb Ur Rahman with picture-perfect yorkers to complete a match-winning hat-trick and became the second Indian to achieve this feat in World Cup after Chetan Sharma.

Here is the video:

T20I CRICKET

Deepak Chahar vs Bangladesh, VCA Stadium- Nagpur, 2019
Victims- Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Aminul Islam

Deepak Chahar led the Indian pace bowling attack in absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar against Bangladesh. Both the teams came into the third and final T20I match in Nagpur with the series on the line. Bangladesh had the chance to create history by beating them in a T20I series and were on course 110/3 chasing 175 to win in the 13^th over.

But then Shivam Dube picked three quick wickets and then Chahar took center stage as he removed Shafiul Islam on the last ball of the 18^th over and then returned in the final over to take the wickets of Mustafizur and Aminul Islam on the first two balls to claim a hat-trick, the first by an Indian in T20I format. He ended up with figures of 6/7, the best ever in T20I cricket beating Ajantha Mendis’ 6/8 against Zimbabwe in 2012.

Here is the video: