List of Indian bowlers who have taken a hat-trick in international cricket
India defeated Australia by 50 runs in the second ODI at Eden Gardens yesterday to take a 2-0 lead in the 5-match series. The match had many brilliant individual performances from the Indian players but the most eye-catching one was Kuldeep Yadav’s hat-trick in the 33rd over when he dismissed Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, and Pat Cummins.
The 22-year old became only the 3rd Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in ODIs and the 43rd overall. The chinaman’s hat-trick was only the 5th in ODI cricket that involved three different ways of dismissal i.e. bowled, lbw, and caught behind. The other four bowlers to have done so are Chaminda Vaas against Bangladesh in 2003, Farveez Maharoof against India in 2010, Kagiso Rabada against Bangladesh in 2015, and James Faulkner against Sri Lanka in 2016. It’s also the third hat-trick at Eden Gardens.
With the inclusion of Kuldeep Yadav, a total of 5 Indians have taken hat-tricks in international cricket. Let’s take a look at them.
#1. Chetan Sharma vs New Zealand, 1987 World Cup
For some time in 1986, Chetan Sharma was one of the most hated names in Indian cricket as he wasn’t able to defend four runs off the final delivery in the final of the 1986 Austral-Asia Cup at Sharjah where Javed Miandad hit him for a six.
However, he redeemed himself with two sensational performances, the first of them being taking 16 wickets in India’s famous 2-0 Test series win in England. The second one is still one of the most iconic moments in India’s World Cup history.
At the 1987 World Cup, India were cruising in the group stages and by the time they were up against New Zealand in their final group game, they were well into the semi-finals. The match was held at Nagpur and the Kiwis batted first.
New Zealand were looking in a decent position at 181/5 thanks to Dipak Patel’s 40, John Wright’s 35 and chip-ins from Ken Rutherford and the Crowe brothers. At this stage, Chetan Sharma came in and bowled Rutherford who was looking set. He then bowled out Ian Smith and Ewan Chatfield to become the first Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in international and the 3rd overall.
He also became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in the Cricket World Cup.
New Zealand struggled their way to 221/9 and India chased down the total comprehensively thanks to Sunil Gavaskar’s 88-ball 103 and Kris Srikkanth’s 58-ball 75. The win helped India top their group above Australia and both Gavaskar and Sharma were adjudged the Men of the Match.