all about Hat-tricks ~ Kuldeep Yadav's feat at Kolkatta

Do you know, who was the 1^st bowler to take a hat-trick in ODI and in Tests ?

At Eden Gardens, India defended an ordinary total with ease to go up 2-0.  The score card reads : India 252 (Kohli 92, Rahane 55, Coulter-Nile 3-51, Richardson 3-55) beat Australia 202 (Stoinis 62*, Smith 59, Bhuvneshwar 3-9, Kuldeep 3-54) by 50 runs

High drama unfolded ~ the target of 253 looked ordinary – Aussies lost 2 early wickets to Bhuvneshwar – Steve Smith was milking runs;  Glenn Maxwell took on the  wristspinner, Kuldeep Yadav, out of the attack with two sixes in one over.  Chahal struck again, drawing Maxwell out of his crease, beating him with dip, and having him stumped beautifully by the effervescentl MS Dhoni off his back leg. When the fifth bowler, Hardik Pandya, removed Smith with an accurate, cross-seam bouncer, Australia were 138 for 5. 

Kuldeep had bowled rather ordinarily as his figures of 7-0-39-0 suggested – Kohli persisted with him, bringing him back twice and .. .. he changed the match with a hat-trick.  Yes, Kuldeep Yadav picked up a hat-trick in the second One-Day International to sink Australia  becoming  third Indian to take a hat-trick in ODIs for India after Chetan Sharma and Kapil Dev. He also became the second wrist spinner to achieve the feat after Wanidu Hasaranga.

Almost 30 years ago, in Oct  1987, Chetan Sharma became the first bowler in World Cup history to take a hat-trick.   He was the first Indian bowler to do so.  The venue was Nagpur, for the 24^th  match of the Reliance World Cup, where India faced New Zealand. Bowling his nippy cutters and seamers, Sharma castled Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield with the last three balls of his sixth over - the 42^nd  of New Zealand's innings - to help set up a nine-wicket win for the defending champions. All 3 batsmen were bowled. 

Four years later in 1991, in Asia Cup at Kolkata – Kapil Dev had Roshan Mahanama caught behind by Kiran More, trapped Rumesh Rathnayake in front and had Sanath Jayasuriya caught by Sanjay Manjrekar to take the next hattrick.   

                   Statistically, the  only bowler to have taken three career hat-tricks is Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka, while three other bowlers (Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaqand Chaminda Vaas) have taken two hat-tricks.

The 1^st ever hattrick in an ODI was on Sept. 20, 1982 when JalaludDin had Rodney Marsh, Bruce Yardley and Geoff Lawson. 

All of us do well remember that brilliant hattrick by Harbhajan Singh in what is otherwise known as VVS Laxman special Test – 2^nd Test at Kolkatta in Mar 2011, when India, following on bounced back, thanks to that great innings by Laxman.  Aussies on a winning spree lost the test and the Series.  Bhaji’s victims were Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne.  Warne was caught by Saagopan Ramesh.  At Karachi, in Jan 2006, Irfan Pathan removed Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf -  have seen all the hattricks by Indian bowlers live !! (on TV of course!) The first ever hattrick in a Test was performed way back  in Jan 1879 by Fred Spofforth for Australia against England at Melbourne.

Remember watching Petherick bowling to Venkat Raghavan at Chepauk, he came with the reputation of having a taken a hattrick on debut against Pakistan – but went on to play just 6 tests !

In Nov 1988,  Courtney Walsh dismissed Tony Dodemaide to end Australia's first innings in the first Test in Brisbane, then ripped out Mike Veletta and Graeme Wood with his first two deliveries in the second innings to have a hattrick spread over 2 innings.  In the  next Test after Walsh's inaugural split-innings hat-trick, the big Merv Hughes came up with an even more complicated one, which was actually spread over three overs. At Perth, he  dismissed Curtly Ambrose with the last ball of his 36^th  over, then (after another wicket had fallen at the other end) polished off the innings by removing Patrick Patterson with the first ball of his next over, to finish with 5 for 130. Then, with the first ball of West Indies' second innings, Hughes trapped Gordon Greenidge plumb in front, and went on to take 8 for 87.

Well bowled Yuz Chahal and his spinning partner Kuldeep Yadav – by the way, is it a conscious plan to keep more acclaimed Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja out ??

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

21^st Sept. 2017