The Indian Premier League was played for the first time in 2008 and saw three hat-tricks in the first season itself. The first of those was taken by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Lakshmipathy Balaji.
In the match between CSK and Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) on May 10, 2008 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Punjab won the toss and elected to field first. Even though CSK were in a spot of bother at 64 for three, fifties from S Badrinath and MS Dhoni helped them post 181 for four in their 20 overs. Punjab were on track at the end of 12 overs, as they were 95 for 2 in their chase of 182. In the space of five balls, however, Balaji dismissed both their set batsmen – Ramnaresh Sarwan (20) off the first ball of the 13th over and opener Shaun Marsh (38-ball 58) off the fifth ball.
Having derailed Punjab’s chase, Balaji added more gloss to his figures with the first ever IPL hat-trick.
Bowling the final over of the match, Balaji dismissed Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla and Vikram Singh of the third, fourth and fifth deliveries for his hat-trick. CSK won the match by 18 runs.
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L Balaji, who finished with figures of 5 for 24 from his four overs, was declared the player of the match.
Including Yuzvendra Chahal’s hat-trick in the ongoing season, there have been 21 hat-tricks in the IPL so far, taken by 18 bowlers.
Amit Mishra is the only bowler to have taken three hat-tricks in the IPL Yuvraj Singh comes second with two hat-tricks. The remaining 16 bowlers have taken one hat-trick each in the IPL.
Picture Credit : Google
