IPL's hat-trick heroes
Hat-tricks in cricket are the bastion of specialist bowlers and usually come in match-winning causes, but the IPL has thrown up outliers on both counts
ESPNcricinfo staff
15-Mar-2017
Ajit Chandila went from he-who-could-not-be-named to match-winner in three balls • AFP
Ajit Chandila, Rajasthan Royals v Pune Warriors, IPL 2012
Batsmen dismissed - Jesse Ryder, Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa
At the toss for this game, Royals captain Rahul Dravid struggled to recall the "mystery spinner" who had replaced seamer Pankaj Singh, for what was a critical game to keep his side's qualification hopes alive. After Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane guided them to 170 batting first, it was the said mystery spinner Dravid turned to for the first over of Warriors' chase. Chandila duly snapped up Ryder and Ganguly off the last two balls, before coming back to get Uthappa off the first ball of his second over. His 4-0-13-4 spell delivered a comfortable, 45-run win for his side.
Batsmen dismissed - David Hussey, Azhar Mahmood, Gurkeerat Singh
Narine's is the one of two hat-tricks on this list to end up in a losing cause, which was largely due to Manpreet Gony's all-round performance for Kings XI. Narine's bag of tricks, including a carrom ball, had Kings XI sliding from 96 for 3 to 99 for 6 in the 15th over. However, Gony smacked Narine in the bowler's 23-run final over, before coming back with a match-winning spell to take Kings XI to a four-run win.
Amit Mishra, Sunrisers Hyderabad v Pune Warriors, IPL 2013
Batsmen dismissed - Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Sharma, Ashok Dinda
Mishra has made a habit of delivering knock-out punches at the death in the IPL, picking up hat-tricks to sink chases that were coasting along comfortably. His third hat-trick in the tournament came in a four-wicket over which left Manish Pandey stranded at one end, as wickets tumbled at the other. From needing 14 runs off 12 balls with four wickets in hand, Warriors ended up losing the game by 11 runs by the end of an eventful penultimate over.
Batsmen dismissed - Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Robin Uthappa
Just as the Royal Challengers innings appeared to be gaining momentum, Yuvraj brought himself on as his side's sixth bowler and ran through the middle order with fast armballs. Despite following it up with a typically attacking 50 opening the batting, his Man-of-the-Match performance was not enough to prevent an eight-run defeat for Kings XI.
Praveen Kumar, Royal Challengers v Royals, IPL 2010
Batsmen dismissed- Damien Martyn, Sumit Narwal, Paras Dogra
Praveen Kumar's hat-trick arguably inflicted the most lethal damage on Royals in this match, triggering a free fall from which they never recovered from. A score of 85 for 4 became 92 all out, after which the Royal Challengers opening pair chased it down with barely a fuss, in a ten-wicket victory.
Rohit Sharma, Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians, IPL 2009
Batsmen dismissed - Abhishek Nayar, Harbhajan Singh, JP Duminy
The 2009 season saw part-timers picking up incredible hat-tricks against the run of play, sending the opposition on a tail spin at critical points in run-chases. As Mumbai were on course to chase down Chargers' 145, Gilchrist's last roll of the dice was to bring Rohit on for the 16th over. His loopy offspin, with a few flatter ones thrown in for good measure, induced a string of mistakes from the batsmen and his final figures read 2-0-6-4, leaving the Mumbai tail to get 34 off 12 balls. What looked like a straightforward chase ended up as a 19-run defeat for Mumbai.
Yuvraj Singh, Kings XI v Chargers, IPL 2009
Batsmen dismissed - Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds, Venugopal Rao
Yuvraj's second IPL hat-trick had him joking that he should "start bowling rather than batting". Unlike his previous one in the season, this hat-trick came in a match-winning cause, as his spell of 4-0-13-3 scuppered the Chargers chase midway. Rohit Sharma nearly played spoilsport with a late surge, but Kings XI eventually won by a single run.
Pravin Tambe, Royals v Knight Riders, IPL 2014
Batsmen dismissed - Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Ryan ten Doeschate
With Knight Riders needing 49 runs off the last five overs, Pravin Tambe fired one down the leg side to have an advancing Manish Pandey stumped. He followed it up with two classic leg-spinning ones - being on the fortunate side of an lbw decision against Ryan ten Doeschate - to derail a tight chase in favour of Royals.
L Balaji, Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI, IPL 2008
Batsmen dismissed - Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, VRV Singh
Balaji's hat-trick was the first in the IPL, and came after the game was all but won for Super Kings. With 27 needed from the final over of their chase, the Kings XI lower order had no clue against his slower variations, going for almighty heaves that sank them to a 19-run defeat.
Amit Mishra, Delhi Daredevils v Chargers, IPL 2008
Batsmen dismissed - Ravi Teja, Pragyan Ojha, RP Singh
After 19 overs of a tight chase, with 15 runs needed off six balls, Virender Sehwag tossed the ball to Mishra. The Haryana legspinner closed out the game in the first three balls, ending up with a five-wicket haul to clinch a tense 12-run victory for Daredevils.