In International cricket, hat-tricks are infrequent. Eliminating three batsmen off three back-to-back deliveries is uncommon. But there are still occurence of some memorable hat-tricks in the history of ICC men World Cup. To know more about them, keep reading this article.
Looking back on the top three memorable hat-tricks in the history of ICC men WC, below is the recap of top bowlers whose names have been written in the history for their hat-tricks.
Top three memorable hat-tricks in ICC men WC are:
CHETAN SHARMA (1987)
Team: India
Opponent: New Zealand
All Indians must feel proud to acknowledge that the first ever ICC men WC hat-trick was pulled off by the former right-arm pacer Chetan Sharma of India. He will always be remembered for his epic hat-trick which he pulled off in the fourth edition of ICC t20 men’s World Cup in 1987 which was held in Nagpur against New Zealand.
Sharma became the first man to pioneer the World Cup hat-trick by consecutively taking three wickets and dismissed Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield with the last three balls of his sixth over. Wonderfully, all three batsmen were clean bowled.
Saqlain Mushtaq (1999)
Team: Pakistan
Opponent: Zimbabwe
Next to Chetan Sharma, it took 12 years and 3 more editions to pull off another nifty hat-trick in ICC men’s t20 World Cup which was witnessed by Pakistani off-spinner and most feared sub-continent bowler in the World, Saqlain Mushtaq against Zimbabwe at the Oval ground.
Saqlain pulled off the wicket of tail-ender Henry Olonga (stumped by Moin Khan), then removed Adam Huckle and at last he eliminated Pommie Mbangwa in leg-before-wicket (LBW). And he became the second cricketer to get three in three balls in ICC men WC.
Chaminda Vaas (2003)
Team: Sri Lanka
Opposition: Bangladesh
It’s been 17 years since former Sri Lankan pacer or often described as the greatest fast bowler, Chaminda Vaas created history in Pietermaritzburg with the first three opening balls of Sri Lanka’s t20 men’s World Cup against Bangladesh in 2003. Captain of Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayas handed the bowl to Chaminda Vaas after choosing the field first.
Vaas eliminated Hannan Sarkar with his brilliant in-swing, Next victim was Mohammad Ashraful, caught and bowled easily and than Vaas bowled his hat-trick out-swinger to Ehsanul Haque who edged the bowl to Mahela Jayawardene in the slips.
That’s how Vaas pulled off this epic hat-trick and became the first bowler ever to witness the hat-trick on the first 3 balls of an ODI.
