Nitni Takes Hat-Trick! Third in IPL! Second by Chennai!

Nitni took a hat-trick in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata. It was a disjointed hat-trick.

He uprooted the middle stump of Ganguly when Ganguly tried to give room for himself for a huge slog. He took this wicket in the last ball of his first spell.

He came back for the 2nd spell in the 17th over. This time, Das's leg stump is taken out of the ground when he gave room for himself to hit it over mid off.

No body realized that he was on a hat-trick. It is very difficult to remember in these kind of tense situations especially on a disjoint hat-trick.

The next ball uprooted the off stump of Hussey. He misses the line and the ball knocked off the off stump, which was flying in the air.

The beauty of this hat-trick is all three were bowled and fittingly, he managed to knock down each of the three stumps.

He finished the figures of 4-0-21-4. His other wicket was that Mohammad Hafeez, caught by Gony.

This is the third hat-trick in IPL, the second by a Chennai Super Kings bowler. The first one to pick the hat-trick in IPL was Laxmipathi Balaji and the second bowler was Amit Mishra of Delhi Daredevils.

Hat-Tricks in IPL!

Balaji Gets Hat-Trick!

Hat-Tricks in IPL!

IPL has seen few hundres by prominent cricketers, quick fifties, good bowling performance by Sohail Tanvir. But, hat-trick, which involves taking 3 wickets in 3 continuous balls did not happy until the 30 matches.

The 31st match of the IPL saw the hat-trick for the first time. Lkshmipathi Balaji off Chennai Super Kings created the record against Kings XI Punjab in Chennai, his home ground.

The 37th match of the IPL saw another hat-trick. Amit Mishra off Delhi Daredevils created the record against Deccan Chargers in Delhi. He bowled the last over when Deccan Chargers needed 15 runs with 4 wickets in hand. He picked 3 wickets in the first three balls and restricted Deccan by giving only 2 runs in that over.


Balaji's hat-trick against Kings XI


Mishra's hat-trick against Deccan Chargers

Match 37: Delhi Daredevils Win! Mishra takes Hat-Trick!

The second hat-trick of the IPL was taken by Mishra off Delhi Daredevils. The last over needed 15 for Hyderabad Deccan Chargers with 4 wickets in hand. Virendra Sehwag once again showed his belief in the spinners and this time he gave it to Amit Mishra.

Ravi Teja was caught at the long off boundary by Shoaib Malik of the first ball;
Ohja was caught at covers by Sehwas when he tried to slog;

RP Singh was stumped by Karthik, trying to come down the track and the ball was pitched short and kept low, where Dinesh Karthik did the rest;

Fourth ball was again a stumpin gchance to remove Sarvesh Kumar, but Karthik missed it to give four in a row to Mishra;

The remaining two balls went for a single and Mishra gave 12 run victory to Delhi Daredevils, keeping them in the tournament.

Man of the Match List

Points Table

Earlier, put into bat, Delhi lost the captain and dangerous batsman Virendra Sehwag in the first over last ball, caught at third man for a second duck.

But, Gambhir and Dhawan did not stop scoring the runs at 8 runs per over in the power play. At the end of 6 overs, Delhi were 48 for 1. Gambhir struck two continuous sixes and a four four of RP Singh. This really showed that despite losing the wicket of Sehwag, the team was going against the bowlers.

They both played sensibly and were picking ones and twos and fours in the bad balls. At the end of 10 overs, Delhi were 76 for 1 with Gambhir batting on 44 and Dhawan on 28.

Gambhir reached his 50 in 34 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes.

Gambhir hit 2 fours in the 13th over bowled by Sarvesh Kumar and in the 14th over bowled by Afridi costed 18 runs to the Deccan Chargers. Gambhir hit a 2 and a six and then Dhawan hit 2 fours and reached his 50 in 37 balls with 7 fours.

End of 15 overs, Delhi were 138 for 1. With 9 more wickets in hand, there was a high chance that they can go beyond 200.

Gambhir got out in the 2nd ball of the 16th over. He came down the track off Ojha, and left the ball pitched on the leg stump. Though it was called a wide, Gilchrist stumped him out for 79 off 48 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes.

Maharoof hit two sixes--one in RP Singh's over and then in Ojha's over. He was caught by Sharma off Ojha for 19 in 11 balls with 2 sixes.

Dilshan hit a four of the last ball of the 18th over to take the score to 171 for 3. Vijaykumar bowled a very good 19th over and he gave just 9 runs including a six over square leg.

The last over bowled by RP Singh helped Delhi to add 14 runs including two fours. Dilshan was out in the fifth ball, run out by Gilchrist for 16 off 6 balls with 2 fours and a six.

Delhi ended with 194 for 4 in 20 overs. Vijaykumar was the pick of the bowlers with 1 for 24 of 4 overs.

Afridi opened the innings for the first time in this IPL. At least he has been given a chance to play the full quota. He proved that he is worth opening the innings.

Gilchrist and Afridi hit a four each in the first over bowled by McGrath. Prbably, the only match were he gave 10 runs in the first over. The 2nd over bowled by Mohammad Asif added 2 more fours to Gilly and Deccan had a good start with 21 on the board in 2 overs.

Gilly was caught by Dilshan off McGrath. He smashed it through mid-off where Dilshan dived and took a brilliant catch.

Asif again proved costly by giving 17 runs in the 4th over. Afridi hit a four and later in the over, Gibbs hit a four and a six.

McGrath was hit for two sixes by Gibbs and then a four by Afridi to end that over with 17 runs--most costly by McGrath. End of 5 overs, Deccan were 61 for 1, going comfortably at 12 runs per over. Afridi was hitting the ball hard and clearing boundaries. He hit another six in the 6th over bowled by Maharoof.

The break through came in the 7th over, first ball, bowled by Mishra. The ball was pitched on the off and spun, Afridi trying to hit it over long off, didn't time it well and the ball raised a little higher than expected. The ball went in the air towards cover where de Villiers, the substitute in this match caught it easily. Afridi scored 33 off 14 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.

Gibbs got out in the 9th over, bowled by Mishra for 22. At the end of 10 overs, Deccan Chargers were 84 for 3, requiring 111 from 60 balls.

Styris couldn't find his touch in this match. But, Rohit Sharma proved his class one more time. He hit two sixes off Bhatia in the 12th over.

Trying to scoop the ball over fine leg, Rohit missed the ball and lost his stump. Crucial break through was provided by Maharoof.

Venugopal, the newly turned dangerous batsman joined Styris. End of 15 overs, Deccan were 128 for 4 requiring 67 for 30 balls.

The 16th over added 9 runs including a four by Styris. The 17th over added two more fours to Styris and the last ball went for a four between third man and point.

43 runs from 18 balls. Maharoof got Styris, caught at long-on by de Villiers for 29 off 28 balls with 2 fours. But, Venugopal continued his fight with a six, four and a six to finish the over with 18 runs.

25 from 12 balls, the match is still open. McGrath took the wicket of Venugopal, caught at long on. I think with this wicket, the hopes of Deccan Chargers would have gone. The most dangerous batsman is gone and McGrath has used his experience through an inswing delivery.

Ravi Teja hit a six over point in the 5th ball to keep the match alive. Last over, 15 to win, 4 wickets in hand.

Amit Mishra took 3 wickets in the first three balls and restricted Deccan Chargers with 2 runs in that over. He was chosen as the man of the match.

Match 37
Venue: Delhi
Date: May 15, 2008
Teams: Delhi Daredevils and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers
Captains: Virendra Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist
Toss: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and decided to field
Result: Delhi Daredevils won by 12 runs
Man of the Match: Amit Mishra off Delhi Daredevils (India)
Points: Delhi Daredevils-2; Hyderabad Deccan Chargers-0
Score:

Delhi Daredevils 194 for 4 in 20 overs (G Gambhir 79, V Sehwag 0, S Dhawan 68 not out, MF Maharoof 19, TM Dilshan 16, MK Tiwary 4 not out, Extras-8 (lb 3, wide 5), DP Vijaykumar 4-0-24-1, RP Singh 4-0-50-0, PM Sarvesh Kumar 3-0-24-0, SB Styris 4-0-33-0, Y Venugopal Rao 2-0-23-0, Shaid Afridi 1-0-18-0, PP Ojha 2-0-19-2) beat Hyderabad Deccan Chargers 182 for 9 in 20 overs (AC Gilchrist 14, Shahid Afridi 33, HH Gibbs 22, RG Sharma 35, SB Styris 29, Y Venugopal Rao 34, DB Ravi Teja 9, RP Singh 1, PP Ojha 0, DP Vijaykumar 1 not out, PM Sarvesh Kumar 1 not out, Extras-3 (lb 1, wide 2), GD McGrath 4-0-42-2, Mohammad Asif 4-0-51-0, MF Maharoof 4-0-39-2, A Mishra 4-0-17-5, R Bhatia 4-0-32-0)

Man of the Match List

Points Table

Balaji gets Hat-trick!

Lakshmi Pathy Balaji, took a hat-trick in the match against Kings XI Punjab played in Chenni on May 10, 2008.

Playing his 2nd match in the IPL after a gap of more than 2 years, he bowled well in the first match against Delhi Daredevils.

His second match against Kings XI Punjab should be a memorable one for him. He thanked all those who supported him during the stressful injury period.

The History of Hat-Trick:

Last over, 27 required. Balaji to Pathan, Six off a full toss.

21 from 5 balls: Two runs were scored

19 from 4 balls: Pathan was caught by Raina at deep square leg. Pathan did not time it well during his pull and it landed in Raina's hand.

19 from 3 balls: The batsman crossed and Chawla hit the ful toss to long off and Kapugedera takes an easy catch. Two wickets in two balls.

19 from 2 balls: He was on-a-hat-trick. VRV Singh was facing. The ball was pitched short out side the off stump, and he tried to slog it, but it took the outside egde and went just few steps back of Dhoni, who took an easy catch. THAT WAS A HAT-TRICK!! FIRST IN IPL! The last ball was missed by the batsman and it went to keeper.

He picked 5 wickets in the match giving away just 24 runs in his quota of 4 overs. What a match for him? He was given the man of the match award! Who else can get it???

Click here to read match history of Chennai Super Kings v. Kings XI Punjab!

Match 31: Chennai beat Kings XI again! Balaji Takes Hat-trick!

Chennai Super Kings beat Kings XI again, but in Chennai this time, the home ground.

Put into bat, Chennai didn't start their innings well. They lost Vidyut in the first over, caught at slip off Sreesanth.

Fleming got out in the 3rd over, a straight forward catch to covers off Sreesanth again. That was a good powerful shot, but it went straight to Goel. He was out for 1 and Chennai struggling at 20 for 2 in the 3rd over.

Badrinath was promoted in the batting order to play at number 4. He hit two fours off Sreesanth's 3rd over that gave the momentum to Chennai.

The next over by VRV Singh costed 15 runs for Kings XI. Badrinath hit a four and a six off free hit.


Chawla was brought to give a break through and he did it. But, before that, Raina hit him for tw continous fours and got the required runs. He was caught by Marsh when he tried a huge slog over mid wicket, but it took the edge and went high in the air towards point. End of 7 overs, Chennai were 64 for 3. The run rate was over 9 and it was good for Chennai.

Despite losing wickets, Chennai played positively going against the bowlers and maintained the run rate.

The 9th over bowled by Chawla opened up Dhoni's shoulders. He hit for a huge six over wide long-on.

End of 10 overs, Chennai were 85 for 3 with Badrinath on 28 and Dhoni on 12.

Dhoni hit two huge continous sixes of Chawla and the 11th over added 15 to the total. On the other hand, Badrinath hit two sixes of Pathan in the 13th over and he added 15 to the total in that over.

Badrinath reached his 50 off 37 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Should be a huge morale booster for the local boy.

He started hammering the ball. He hit two fours in the 15th over last two balls of VRV Sing. The last 5 overs added 59 to the total.

Sreesanth and Hopes bowled the 16th and 17th over respectively with a good line and gave away just 5 runs each.

That added pressure to the Chennai team and they lost Badrinath in the 3rd ball of the 18th over. He was caught at covers by Yuvaraj off VRV Singh. He scored 64 off 47 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. The 18th over also added 5 runs to the total. The last 3 overs added 15 runs over all.

What once thought to be a score of more than 190, turned differently. But, Dhoni played the skipper's innings by sending a six and a four and couple of twos to add 17 to the total. With last 6 balls in hand, Chennai were 176 for 4.

Dhoni crossed his 50 with a huge six in the 19th over and he did that in 37 balls with 3 sixes.

Last over was bowled very well by Pathan and he gave away just 5 runs to finish the Chennai innings at 181.

Sreesanth picked 2 wickets in his 4 overs giving away 29 runs.

Chasing 182, the danger batsman Marsh was hammering as usual at one end, but Kings XI started losing wickets regularly.

Hopes and Marsh opened the innings. Hopes hit a six and a four in the first over by Gony. But he got out in the last ball of the 2nd over, caught by Dhoni. The ball pitched outside the leg and he played the glance towards fine leg. But Dhoni moved quickly towards his left and held it easily.

End of over 4, Kings XI were 29 for 1. Gny struck again in the 5th over by sending Goel caught by Morkel at third man for 1.

Marsh and Sarwan played taking 1s and 2s but the 8th over turned huge for Kings XI. Marsh hit two sixes off Amarnath and that over added 15 to the total.

Muralitharan was brought into the attack. Though he started with a wide down the leg side, he just gave 8 runs in that over to have Kings XI struggle at 76 for 2 in 10 overs.

Balaji bowled the 11th over and conceeded 11 runs including a six by Marsh. Muralitharan's next over also had a six by Marsh.

The equation now is 87 runs required off 48 balls with 8 wickets in hand.

Balaji's over had two wickets for Chennai. He bowled Sarwan when he tried to come down the track and pull him. He scored 20 off 22 balls. In the 5th ball, the dangerous batsman Marsh was caught by Amarnath at deep square leg. He scored 58 off 38 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes.

Yuvaraj Singh did not stay long in the crease. He got out in the first ball of the 14th over caught by Fleming at point off Amarnath for 2.

Pathan, thought hit 2 fours in the last two balls, that was not enough as the equation changed to 75 from 36 balls.

Jayawardane hit a six off Muralitharan, but got out in the same over caught at short third man.

Balaji bowled a good 16th over in which he gave just 4 runs.

Gony was brought back and that over had two sixes--one by Pathan and the other one by Chawla. The last ball was a four by Chawla. 36 from 12 balls.

Morkel bowled the 19th over and he was hit for a six off the first ball by Pathan. He never gives up. But only 3 runs were scored in the remaining 5 balls as Morkel bowled them very well.

Last over, 27 required. Balaji to Pathan, Six off a full toss. 21 from 5 balls. Two runs were scored and in the next ball, Pathan was caught by Raina at deep square leg. Pathan did not time it well during his pull and it landed in Raina's hand.

The batsman crossed and Chawla hit the ful toss to long off and Kapugedera takes an easy catch. Two wickets in two balls.

He was on-a-hat-trick. VRV Singh was facing. The ball was pitched short out side the off stump, and he tried to slog it, but it took the outside egde and went just few steps back of Dhoni, who took an easy catch. THAT WAS A HAT-TRICK!! FIRST IN IPL! The last ball was missed by the batsman and it went to keeper.

Chennai Super Kings beat Kings XI Punjab one more time!

For taking 5 wickets including a hat-trick in his 4 overs giving just 24 runs, L Balaji was rightly chosen for the man of the match award.

Match 31
Venue: Chennai
Date: May 10, 2008
Teams: Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab
Captains: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvaraj Singh
Toss: Kings XI Punjab and decided to field
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 18 runs
Man of the Match: L Balaji off Chennai Super Kings (India)
Points: Chennai Super Kings-2; Kings XI Punjab-0
Score:
Chennai Super Kings 181 for 4 in 20 overs (S Vidyut 8, SP Fleming 1, SK Raina 26, S Badrinath 64, MS Dhoni 60 not out, J A Mokel 7 not out, Extras-15 (lb 4, wide 10, nb 1), S Sreesanth 4-0-29-2, IK Pathan 3-0-33-0, VRV Singh 4-0-35-1, PP Chawla 3-0-36-1, JR Hopes 4-0-36-0, Yuvaraj Singh 1-0-8-0) beat Kings XI Punjab 163 for 9 in 20 overs (SE Marsh 58, JR Hopes 14, K Goel 1, RR Sarwan 20, Yuvraj Singh 2, DPMD Jayawardene 8, IK Pathan 40, PP Chawla 17, S Sreesanth 0 not out, VRV Singh 0, U Kaul 0 not out, Extras-3 (lb 1, wide 2), M Gony 4-0-38-1, JA Morkel 4-0-25-1, P Amarnath 3-0-35-1, CK Kapugedera 1-0-8-0, M Muralitharan 4-0-32-1, L Balaji 4-0-24-5 including a hat-trick)