Hat Trick in IPL: When One Ball Isn’t Enough

You know the sound. The hush before the third ball. The clatter of stumps. The eruption. A hat trick in the IPL isn’t just rare — it’s mythical. It slices through the noise of sixes and chaos like a lightning strike. One moment, a batting side is cruising; the next, they’re reeling. And the bowler? He’s not just celebrating. He’s immortalizing three balls that will be replayed again and again.

Back in 2008, when the league was new and still figuring itself out, Lakshmipathy Balaji did something no one had seen in the IPL yet. He ran in for the 17th over at Chepauk. Three balls later — Irfan Pathan gone, Piyush Chawla next, VRV Singh last — he’d written his name into folklore. Not with raw pace or fancy tricks, but with clever changes of speed and pinpoint precision. You didn’t need mystery when you had nerve. The crowd didn’t cheer — they exploded. Chennai was off its feet.

That was the spark. But hat tricks didn’t fade. They evolved.

Table 1: IPL Hat Tricks — A Timeline of Shockwaves (2008–2025)

Player	Team	Year	Opponent	Venue
Lakshmipathy Balaji	Chennai Super Kings	2008	Kings XI Punjab	Chennai
Amit Mishra	Delhi Daredevils	2008	Deccan Chargers	Delhi
Makhaya Ntini	Chennai Super Kings	2008	KKR	Chennai
Yuvraj Singh (x2)	Kings XI Punjab	2009	RCB & Deccan	Durban, Joburg
Rohit Sharma	Deccan Chargers	2009	MI	Centurion
Ajit Chandila	Rajasthan Royals	2012	Pune Warriors	Jaipur
Sam Curran	Kings XI Punjab	2019	Delhi Capitals	Mohali
Chahal	Rajasthan Royals	2022	KKR	Brabourne
Jaydev Unadkat	Sunrisers Hyderabad	2024	RCB	Ahmedabad
Mayank Markande	Mumbai Indians	2025	CSK	Wankhede

This isn’t just a list. It’s a catalog of moments when the unexpected happened. Where the rhythm broke. Every one of those hat tricks flipped the mood in a stadium. From chants to disbelief, to full-throttle celebration.

But let’s talk about the third ball. That one’s different. That’s when time slows.

You’ve got two already. The crowd’s on edge. The batter is jittery — not because of reputation, but because of momentum. Bowlers will tell you, the third ball is where your brain and your body start arguing. Do you bowl the magic delivery, or just trust your basics? Yuvraj Singh, in 2009, nailed it twice — once with guile, once with sheer guts. Rohit? He surprised everyone. Including himself.

What’s wild is that this magic doesn’t belong only to quicks. Mishra’s done it more than anyone. Three times. Leg-spin, often treated like a luxury, became the dagger. He didn’t rush batters. He teased them. Set them up. And then snapped the trap shut.

Table 2: Bowlers with the Most IPL Hat Tricks

Player	Hat Tricks	Years	Teams
Amit Mishra	3	2008, 2011, 2013	DD, SRH
Yuvraj Singh	2	2009 (twice)	Kings XI Punjab
Rohit Sharma	1	2009	Deccan Chargers
Chahal	1	2022	Rajasthan Royals
Jaydev Unadkat	1	2024	Sunrisers Hyderabad

Mishra’s legacy isn’t built on pace or flash — it’s built on patience. He’d float one up and watch a batter’s eyes light up… just before the lights went out. That’s the thrill of a hat trick. It’s part skill, part trap, part mind game.

But here’s what people forget: hat tricks aren’t just individual moments. They shift entire matches. They yank momentum away like a rug pulled from under a batting side. And in a tournament like the IPL — where margins are razor-thin — that’s massive.

You’ll remember the sixes. The last-ball finishes. But when a bowler gets three in three? That’s theatre. That’s why we watch.

You don’t plan a hat trick. You step into it. One ball at a time. And when it happens, you’re not just a bowler anymore. You’re a memory etched into the IPL’s DNA.

Because one ball? That’s a dot. Two is tension. But three? Three is story. And it never fades.