Brett Lee took the first Hat- trick in the 2007 World Cup and 10 years later on 6th of April 2017 Malinga took the last and the 5th hat trick of T20 internationals. Over 600 T20 internationals were played over the years and only 5 bowlers enjoyed 3 wickets in a row. 2 Sri Lankans, 2 New Zealanders, and 1 Australian so far has felt the joy of picking up a hat trick and Bangladesh (2 times), Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India were in the receiving end. Brett Lee, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Thisara Perera and Lasith Malinga are the only bowlers to feature in a hat trick and all of these 5 bowlers are pacers.
1st Hat – Trick – Lee; not Shane Lee, Brett Lee became the first bowler to pick up a hat trick in a T20 internationals. It was the 14th Match of the Inaugural T20 World cup. The Kangaroos took on the Tigers and at that time the Kangaroo was not only a better jumper than the Tiger but was stronger than him, yes, Bangladesh were minors back then. Banga Boys batted first and made 123 in their allocated 20 overs. Young Tamin top scored with 32 and Aftab chipped in with 31.
It was in the 17th Over where Brett Lee was able to send down his fast rocket launchers and get three wickets in a row. Shakib Al Hassan, Mortaza and Alok Kapali had to go back to the hut one after the other after facing the Chin music. Lee first got rid of Shakib for 16 off 11 balls; cramping him for room, balling a short of Length ball and then asking him to edge through to Gilchrist, who took an easy catch behind the stumps, next Mortaza was cleaned up first ball, Lee fired in a yorker at off stump and Mortaza was bowled trying to back away and hit on the off. Next he trapped Alok Kapali in-front, Umpire Rauf raised his Finger making Lee the first ever bowler to pick up a T20 hat trick. Lee finished with figures of 3 for 27 in 4 overs and the Aussies chased down the target without any fuss in just 13.5 overs, Hayden top scoring with 73 off 48 and Gilly with 43 off 28. Lee was also the Man of the Match for his hat trick.
2nd Hat Trick – Big Jacob Philip Oram had to wait two more years to pick up a hat trick and this time the Sri Lankans were the oppositions who gave away a hat trick. This time around while chasing. New Zealand batted first at R. Premadasa and made 141, with Ross Taylor top scoring with 60 off 45 balls, Malinga took 2 wickets for 21 in his 4 overs. Chasing in Premadasa is always a challenge whatever the target maybe.
Oram took his Hat trick in 2 different overs. He got the price wicket of Mathews for 21 off 22 balls when the hosts just needed 20 off 19 balls, Mathews was caught and bowled by Oram. Mills and Bond bowled the next two overs and the Lankans needed 9 off the last over to clinch victory in the 1st T20 between the two sides. Oram was handed over the responsibility of defending 9 runs and indeed he did it brilliantly by picking up two wickets in the first two balls of the 20th over. He first sent Malinga Bandara for 7 and next Kulasekara for 12, who were both caught in the deep by McCullum and Broom. Sri Lanka fell short by 3 runs and Oran earned himself a hat trick out of nowhere. Dilshan top scored with 57 and Oram finished with figures of 3 for 33, but he was not the man of the Match it was Vettori for his economical spell of 2 for 11 in 4 overs.
3rd Hat Trick – Another Kiwi men was the 3rd player to pick up a hat trick, and this time around it didn’t come in the back end of the innings likecin the previous two occasions and this was in the beginning of the 1st innings. Tim Southee was the successful bowler who took his Hat trick in the first T20 of the T20 series between New Zealand and Pakistan at the Eden Park in Aukland. Southee’s wickets came in the 2nd ball, 3rd ball and the 4th ball of the 7th over and the unlucky batsmen who he trapped was Younis Khan, Mohommad Hafeez and Umar Akmal.
First he fired a short and wide delivery to Younis, who top edged into the hands of Brownlie, who was fielding as the sweeper in the deep. Khan went back for 2. Next Southee saw the back of well-set Hafeez for 24, who poked at a delivery bowled in the corridor of uncertainty and edged it to the Wicket keeper McGlashan. Next was the hat trick ball and Southee did send down a fast and angling delivery and Umar Akmal was caught back in the crease and was trapped LBW. One would also say that Southee was lucky to get the Hat trick since the Umpire; Barry Frost made an error in his umpiring debut since Akmal got a thick inside edge. Southee however with that Wicket took 4 wickets in his previous 5 balls and he finished his spell of 4 overs with only conceding 18 runs and picking up 5 scalps to his name. Pakistan scored 143 in 20 overs, with Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz top scoring with 30 each. Southee picked up 5 for 18 and Mills took 3 for 37. New Zealand chased down 146 successfully with only 5 wickets down in just 17.1 overs. Guptill top scored with 54 and Ross Taylor contributed with 39. Shoaib Akthar took 3 for 38 runs and not much to the surprise of everyone Southee was the Man of the match.
4th Hat Trick – The 4th player was the big black Panda from the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. Thisara Chiratha Perera of Sri Lanka was the next player after the two New Zealanders to pick up a hat trick. It was the 2nd T20 between Sri Lanka and India in 2016 and the Match was played in Ranchi. This hat trick too came at the back end on the Indian innings and also in a losing cause. India batted first and made a commanding 196 for 6 in 20 overs with Dhawan top scoring with 51 and Rohit and Raina contributing with 43 and 30 respectively.
Thisara bowled the 19th over of the Match and he took his 3 wickets in the 4th, 5th and 6th ball. First to go was Hardik Pandya for a cameo of 27 off 12 balls, he toe ended a full toss from Perera to Gunathilaka who was fielding at long on. Raina followed the next ball once again for another full toss but this time the ball went to backward square leg, where Chameera completed a simple catch. Raina went back for 30 off 19 balls. Thisara maintained his line and length the next ball, ohh yes another full toss, this time to Yuvraj who tried to go down town with his first delivery but ended sending it to long-on where Sachithra took a simple catch. Three full tosses and a hat trck and you wonder how lucky this guy was; indeed buying a Lottery ticket would have helped him to win the jackpot. It was a tough ask for the Lankans chasing down 197 and they had an early fallback in the ball first ball of the match when Dilshan went back for a golden duck. Sri Lanka only made 127 in 20 overs, Kapugedara top scored with 32, followed by 31, 28 and 27 by Chndimal, Milinda and Dasun. Ravi Ashwin picked 3 wickets for 14 while Nehera, Jadeja and Bumrah took 2 wickets each, this handed the Indians a victory of 69 runs and Dhawan was named the Man of the Match.
5th Hat trick – The 5th and the last Hat trick came 4 days ago on 6th of April 2017 at the R. Premadasa grounds and it came from the slinging arm of Lasith Malinga. A dounvle Hat Trick, 2 more Hat tricks in ODI and now a hat trick in ODI’s for the Sri Lankan speedster. This Hat trick too came in the first innings and in the back end of the Bangladeshi inning. Bangladesh batted first they made a strong 176 in their 20 overs with Shakib to scoring with 38 off 31 balls, and Kayes and Sarkar chipping in with 36 and 34.
Malinga as usual was given to ball the penultimate over and he took the hat trick in the 3rd ball, 4th ball and the 5th ball of the 19th over. First he castled Rahim with a dipping slower one, a slower off cutter which took the off pole while Rahim was attempting a slog sweep. Next was the captain Mortaza, who was playing his last T20 international, Malinga bowled a full delivery on middle and Mortaza was trying to late cut it to third man but was only able to see his middle stump being removed. Then in the 5th ball he trapped the debutant Mehedi Hasan to a slower ball in front. It was a slow, straight and full delivery from Slinga. He got his hat trick this time with three slow dippers not with Yorkers, 2 bowled and 1 LBW. Swarnajith was the pick of the bowlers picking 3 for 34.
Sri Lanka indeed had a tough night when the opener, the man of the first T20 was bowled by the Number 1 All-rounder; Shakib for 4 in the 2nd ball of the Lankan innings and it was difficult for the Lions to chase down the tigers this time around after getting hurt in the batting power play of 6 overs, where they lost half the side for just 40 runs. All they could manage was 131 runs in 18 overs and handed over a victory of 45 runs to the Tigers. Kapu top scored with 50 off 35 balls and Thisara with 27 off 23 balls. The chief destroyer was the ‘Fizz’ he took 4 wickets for 21 runs and Shakib bagged 3 wickets for 24 runs. Shakib for his 38 runs and 3 wickets was named man of the Match, while Malinga was the Man of the series.
All you need to know
• Out of 607 T20 internationals only 5 players were able to take Hat tricks.
• Out of all the 5 Hat tricks only Brett Lee has taken one in a World Cup. He took in the Inaugural T20 world Cup of 2007.
• R.Premadasa in Colombo has featured in 2 Hat tricks. One by Malinga and the other by Oram. The other three venues are Newlands in Cape town, Eden park in Aukland and JSCA International stadium complex in Ranchi.
• 2 players have taken a Hat trick in away venues, 2 at home and 1 in a neutral venue. Both Malinga and Southee took at home, while Thisara and Oram took in away venues and Brett lee in a neutral venue.
• Malinga is the 2nd Sri Lankan after Thisara Perera to pick up a Hat trick in ODI and then T20 internationals. He is the 3rd in the World after Lee and Thisara
• Malinga is the only player to have 3 ODI hat tricks to go with his T20 Hat trick and a double hat trick to add to that.
• All 5 bowlers who have taken a Hat trick are fast bowlers.
• 4 hat tricks have come in the last 5 overs of the innings. Only Southee has taken a hat trick in the first 10 overs of the Match.
• 4 players have taken hat tricks while the opposition was batting first, only Oram has taken a hat trick in the 2nd innings of the Match.
• Malinga is the only player to take two wickets by bowled in his Hat trick. Thisara’s and Oram’s hat trick has come off catches and Mortaza is the only player to sacrifice his wicket for two hat tricks; first off Lee in 2007 and then off Malinga in 2017.
