Harshal Patel took the 20th hat-trick in the history of the IPL as Royal Challengers Bangalore registered a massive 54-run win against the Mumbai Indians in Dubai.
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In IPL 2021, Harshal Patel has been the standout bowler for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He has taken 23 wickets and put Royal Challengers Bangalore in a great position. His performances against the Mumbai Indians has been spectacular. Harshal became the first bowler in the history of the IPL to take a five-wicket haul against the five-time champions when they first clashed in the opener in Chennai.
However, in the match in Dubai, Mumbai Indians were blown away by Harshal as he took a hat-trick. The feat allowed Royal Challengers Bangalore to beat Mumbai Indians twice in an IPL season for the first time ever. Harshal took the wickets of Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, and Rahul Chahar to end with four wickets in the match. His 23 wickets are the joint-most by a Royal Challengers Bangalore bowler for an IPL season, drawing level with Yuzvendra Chahal.
Following the feat of Harshal Patel, here is a look back at all the editions in which an IPL hat-trick was taken. The main point to be noted is that in the 2015, 2018, and 2020 editions of the IPL, there were no hat-tricks taken.
The first season of the Indian Premier League saw three hat-tricks being taken in the tournament. The first hat-trick was taken by Chennai Super Kings’ Lakshmipathy Balaji in the game against Kings XI Punjab. Balaji got the wickets of Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, and Vikram Singh to take a hat-trick. He ended with 5/24 as Chennai Super Kings won by 18 runs.
There were two more hat-tricks in 2008. Amit Mishra became the second bowler when he took a hat-trick against Deccan Chargers. The tournament ended in grand style as Makhaya Ntini took a hat-trick against Kolkata Knight Riders. Ntini sent back Sourav Ganguly, Debabrata Das, and David Hussey to finish with 4/21. Mishra sent back Ravi Teja, Pragyan Ojha, and RP Singh to finish with 5/17, his best figures in the IPL to date
The 2009 IPL edition was held in South Africa. It was felt that fast bowlers would have a say on the hard, bouncy tracks of South Africa. But, unexpectedly, it was the spinners who stood up and shone. This edition also featured three hat-tricks but all were by spinners. Yuvraj Singh, remarkably, took two hat-tricks in the same edition. Rohit Sharma, the most unexpected of the lot, took the other hat-trick. Yuvraj Singh, playing for Punjab Kings, took his first hat-trick against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Yuvraj got the wickets of Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, and Robin Uthappa to end with 3/22. But, Punjab Kings lost by eight runs.
Remarkably, in the second match, Yuvraj again took a hat-trick against Deccan Chargers. He dismissed Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds, Venugopal Rao as they won by one run. In the same edition, Rohit Sharma hurt his future team Mumbai Indians not with the bat but with the ball. Rohit got the wickets of Abhishek Nayar, Harbhajan Singh, and JP Duminy. In addition, he got the wicket of Saurabh Tiwary to end with 4/6. Deccan Chargers won the match in grand style and they would go on to win the title.
When the IPL returned to India yet again, the spinners dominated. But, in 2010, Praveen Kumar staked a claim for himself when he became the third pacer to take a hat-trick in the IPL. During the 2010 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals, Praveen’s feat allowed RCB to bowl RR out for 92. Praveen dismissed Sumit Narwal, Damian Martyn, and Paras Dogra to give his side a dominant win.
In the 2011 edition, Amit Mishra showed his class in the game against Kings XI Punjab. In the 67th match at Dharamshala, Mishra took the wickets of Ryan McLaren, Mandeep Singh, and Ryan Harris to create history. He took his fourth to finish with 4/9. The 2012 IPL saw Rajasthan Royals’ Ajit Chandila take a hat-trick against Sahara Pune Warriors. He got the wickets of Sourav Ganguly, Jesse Ryder, and Robin Uthappa to win the Man of the Match award on debut. His career, though, later got embroiled in the spot-fixing scandal and he has been banned for life by the BCCI.
The 2013 IPL saw Amit Mishra cement his place as one of the greatest in the IPL. Playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in their match against Sahara Pune Warriors, Mishra was the difference in a low-scoring match. In the 19th over, he took four wickets including a hat-trick. He dismissed Angelo Mathews 20. With his last three balls, he dismissed Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Sharma, and Ashok Dinda for his third hat-trick in the IPL.
The season also saw Sunil Narine take a hat-trick against Kings XI Punjab for Kolkata Knight Riders. Narine got David Hussey, Azhar Mahmood, and Gurkeerat Singh Mann to finish with 3/33. But, KXIP won by four runs.
In IPL 2014, two hat-tricks were secured again. This time by Pravin Tambe and Shane Watson. Tambe, the 40-year-old legspinner, was already making waves. The odd thing in the hat-trick was that it was done in two deliveries, meaning three wickets in two balls. The first wicket was wide but Manish Pandey was stumped. He got rid of Yusuf Pathan and Ryan ten Doeschate as Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 10 runs. The second hat-trick was also taken by a Royals player and it was Shane Watson.
Watson got the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan in the last ball of his first over. When he came back for a second spell, he got the wickets of Moises Henriques and Karn Sharma. But, Rajasthan Royals lost that match by 32 runs.
After seeing no hat-tricks in IPL 2015, the 2016 edition saw Axar Patel shine for Kings XI Punjab. After taking a wicket with his third ball in the sixth over, he got the wickets of Dinesh Karthik and Dwayne Bravo. When he came back for his second spell, he dismissed Ravindra Jadeja to complete a fine hat-trick and end with figures of 4/21.
IPL 2017 saw magic. In one day, there were two hat-tricks. One by Andrew Tye and Samuel Badree. In the match against Mumbai Indians, Badree took the wickets of Parthiv Patel, Mitchell McClenaghan and Rohit Sharma. He also took the wicket of Nitish Rana to end with 4/9 but RCB lost the match. On the same day, Andrew Tye took a hat-trick against Rising Pune Supergiant. He got the wickets of Manoj Tiwary, Ankit Sharma and Shardul Thakur in addition to Rahul Tripathi and Ben Stokes. Gujarat Lions won the match by seven wickets.
The clincher in IPL 2017, though, would be the hat-trick by Jaydev Unadkat. In the match against Kings XI Punjab. Unadkat picked up the wickets of Bipul Sharma, Rashid Khan, and Bhhuvneshwar Kumar to end with 4/20. Unadkat’s performance was the prime reason why Rising Pune Supergiant came close to glory in IPL.
But, in IPL 2019, there was another death-defying hat-trick. During the match between Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab, Sam Curran proved to be the ultimate hero. Chasing Kings XI Punjab’s total of 167, Delhi Capitals were 144/3. In a sensational collapse, they lost seven wickets for eight runs. Sam Curran was the chief destroyer. In one over, he sent back Colin Ingram, and off the final ball, he sent back Harshal Patel. In the next two balls of the final over, Curran got the wickets of Kagiso Rabada and Sandeep Lamichhane to take 4/11 and an ultimate hat-trick.
The season saw another hat-trick, this time by Shreyas Gopal. His wickets were illustrious. In a rain-shortened game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, he got the wickets of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Marcus Stoinis. This was the second time Gopal had taken a hat-trick in T20s, with his other feat coming in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in that same year against Haryana.
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