Three Indians feature in list of 46 players with hat-tricks in Tests

Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj is only the second South Africa bowler to take a hat-trick in Test cricket. Fast bowler Geoff Griffin, who was repeatedly no-balled for chucking, took the first against England at Lord’s in London back in 1960. 

Back then South Africa went on to lose that Test by an innings and 73 runs, meaning Maharaj’s hat-trick is the first in a South Africa Test win, as they beat West Indies by 158 runs in St Lucia on Monday.

Interestingly, there were only 17 hat-tricks in the first 100 years of Test cricket from 1877 to 1977 but there have been 29 in 44 years since. And starting with Harbhajan Singh’s hat-trick against Australia at Eden Gardens in March 2001, there have been 18 Test hat-tricks in the 21st century so far.

Three of them have been by Indians: Irfan Pathan (against Pakistan) and Jasprit Bumrah (against West Indies) being the other two successful bowlers apart from Harbhajan.

Overall, Englishmen have taken the most hat-tricks in Test cricket – 14 – followed closely by Australians – 11.

 Test hat-tricks by country

Apart from three Test hat-tricks, Indians have also taken five ODI hat-tricks and one hat-trick in T20Is. Kuldeep Yadav is the only Indian bowler to take two hat-tricks, both of them coming in ODIs.

Chetan Sharma was the first Indian to take a hat-trick and the first bowler ever to do so at a World Cup. Mohammed Shami is the only other Indian bowler to have taken a World Cup hat-trick.

Overall, three hat-tricks by Indians have come in Kolkata and two in Nagpur. Six have been taken on home grounds while three have come at away venues. Incredibly, four of the nine hat-tricks have come in a single year: 2019.

Hat-tricks by Indians in international cricket

Featured photo : Prakash Singh / AFP