10 ICC Cricket World Cup hat-tricks
1. Chetan Sharma
31st October 1987: Chetan Sharma Registers First World Cup Hat-trick
Chetan Sharma, the India pacer who picked up the first ever World Cup hat-trick in the 1987 edition, looks back on that special day.
Sharma, who made his one-day international debut in late 1983, had already established himself as a reliable seam-bowling option for the Kapil Dev-lead Indian side by the time of the Men's Cricket World Cup 1987.
But it was in the match against New Zealand in that tournament that he accomplished one of his greatest achievements, dismissing Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Evan Chatfield in three successive deliveries – all bowled. His historic hat-trick – the first for an Indian in ODIs and third overall – helped India restrict New Zealand to 221/9 in Nagpur.
"As a fast bowler you don't even dream of a hat-trick," Sharma said in an ICC Cricket 360 special. "You dream of five wickets, you dream of 10 wickets but you don't dream of a hat-trick. Getting a hat-trick there ... I couldn't believe myself."
After the first two wickets fell, Chatfield came on with a visor, which was unusual back then. "I never expected that on a wicket like Nagpur he would come with a visor on. Kapil paaji said to me, 'He is scared. Just bowl a straight one.' And he said we can still make it. It went through the legs and after that, as everyone could see, I went half-mad there!"
This was the year of the World Cup, and India needed a big win over New Zealand in order to finish ahead of Australia and secure a home semi-final.
Chetan Sharma registered the first ever World Cup hat-trick, as he accounted for Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield with the last three balls of his sixth over.
All three were clean bowled, as New Zealand were dismissed for 222.
India needed to chase the target in 42.2 overs, but thanks to some sensational batting from Kris Srikanth and Sunil Gavaskar, they reached the target in just 32.1 overs.
Srikanth smashed 75 from 58 balls as he was on his usual destructive self, but the surprise package was Sunil Gavaskar, as he smashed his only ODI ton off 85 balls.
Wisden Almanack described the chase as "batting of breathtaking brilliance."
India eventually went onto lose the semi-final to England, as Graham Gooch smashed a wonderful century, scoring 115 in the semi-final, and sweeping away the Indian spinners.
However, Chetan Sharma's achievement was soon forgotten as he conceded a last ball six to Javed Miandad in Sharjah, and as India lost the match to Pakistan, Sharma became the perennial villan of Indian cricket.
He ended up playing 23 Tests, taking 61 wickets at an average of 35.46. His ODI career was slightly longer as he played 65 matches and took 67 wickets at an average of 34.87.
2. Saqlain Mushtaq
11th June 1999, the World Cup was in full swing as Pakistan faced Zimbabwe in their important Super Six match at the Oval.
Zimbabwe were a surprise package of the 1999 World Cup as they beat India and South Africa in the group stage to qualify for the Super Six. The all-rounder Neil Johnson was in great form along with Flower brothers, Andy and Grant. Their bowling was dependent on Heath Streak and Henry Olonga. Pakistan, on the other hand, were a very strong team with world’s top bowlers like Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq. For batting, they had Saeed Anwar, Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq.
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. They posted a decent 271; thanks to a century at the top by Saeed Anwar who scored 103. There were other significant contributions from Wajahatullah Wasti (40) and Shahid Afridi (37). Heath Streak and Henry Olonga led the bowling with two wickets each and there were two run outs by Flower brothers.
3. Chaminda Vaas
On February 14, 2003, Sri Lanka’s ace seamer Chaminda Vaas picked up a hat-trick off the first three balls of a One-Day International (ODI) against Bangladesh at the 2003 World Cup. He took another wicket to make it four for the first over and ultimately finished with figures of six for 25. Nishad Pai Vaidya revisits that day in Pietermaritzburg.
4. Brett Lee
Just 11 days after Vaas' heroics, Australian speedster Brett Lee grabbed the second hat-trick of the Cricket World Cup in 2003 against Kenya.
And while it may not quite have been the first three balls of the game, Lee's effort wasn't far off, as he left Kenya 3/3 in the fourth over in Durban.
Kenya opener, Kennedy Otieno, was the first victim, as he played onto his stumps off his elbow. Brijal Patel then nicked off to Ricky Ponting at second slip, before Lee sealed the hat-trick with an unplayable 96.6mph yorker to bowl David Obuya.
5. Lasith Malinga (2007) v South Africa
To mark Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga's 35th birthday, we look back at the two hat-tricks which marked his place in World Cup history.
There have been 44 hat-tricks taken since the first ODI back in 1971, with nine coming at the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Impressively, one man has managed to get his name in the World Cup record books on two occasions for claiming three wickets in-a-row; hat-trick king Lasith Malinga.
Not only is Malinga the sole person to take more than one hat-trick at the World Cup, he is the only player in history to take three hat-tricks in one-day internationals.
To mark the Sri Lankan legend’s 35th birthday today, we look back at the two hat-tricks which marked his place in World Cup history.
6. Kemar Roach
West Indies pace bowler Kemar Roach recorded the first hat-trick of the 2011 World Cup against the Netherlands in a Group B match.
Chasing 331, the Dutch were bundled out for 115 in the 32nd over thanks to Kemar Roach's hat-trick that spelled the doom for them. The only bright spot in their batting with Tom Cooper's unbeaten 55.
Earlier, the West Indies piled up 330/8 in their stipulated 50 overs thanks to impressive batting performance by Chirs Gayle (80) and Kieron Pollard's 27-ball 60.
The Netherlands began to show signs of pressure early with their first wicket falling in the first over. Kemar Roach scalped Wesley Barresi on the fourth ball of the first over with Chris Gayle performing the final honours. He could not even open his account.
But that was just the beginning of the carnage that the West Indians had in mind for the Dutch players.
7. Lasith Malinga (2011) v Kenya
Pace bowler Lasith Malinga claimed six wickets - including a hat-trick - as Sri Lanka eased to a comfortable nine-wicket victory over Kenya in Group A.
Half centuries from brothers Collins and David Obuya had helped Kenya to 128-5 near the end of their innings.
But five wickets in 11 balls from Malinga dismissed the Kenyans for 142 and gave the bowler figures of 6-38.
Sri Lanka breezed to their target thanks largely to Tillakaratne Dilshan (44) and Upul Tharanga (67 not out).
The last time these two met in the World Cup was in 2003, when Sri Lanka put aside security concerns to travel to Nairobi only to suffer a shock 43-run defeat.
However, Malinga ensured that such an outcome was never likely to repeat itself with an impressive opening salvo and a truly stunning final burst to blow away the Kenyan tail.
The unorthodox 27-year-old seamer - nicknamed "Malinga the Slinger" due to his unique round-arm action - had not featured in Sri Lanka's first two matches due to a back injury but quickly made up for lost time to serve warning that the co-hosts are still firmly in the hunt for the trophy after last Saturday's 11-run loss to Pakistan.
"It was important to come back from Saturday. We showed we are mentally strong and finished it off today," said Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara.
8. Steven Finn
Steven Finn became the first Englishman to take a World Cup hat-trick thanks to his final-over effort against Australia at the Cricket World Cup in 2015.
With Australia flying at 342/6, with three balls of their innings remaining, Finn got Brad Haddin caught by Stuart Broad in the deep.
Superb hands by Joe Root at long-off helped get rid of Glenn Maxwell the next ball, before Finn wrapped up the innings and claimed his hat-trick as Mitchell Johnson hit straight to James Anderson at mid-off.
9. JP Duminy
Off-spinner struck with final ball of 33rd over and then with successive balls in next to stop Sri Lanka in their tracks
South Africa off-spinner JP Duminy took a hat-trick in their World Cup quarter-final against Sri Lanka as the Proteas appeared set for a quickfire win with the 1996 champions slumping to 127-9 when rain stopped play.
Duminy struck with the final ball of the 33rd over to have Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews caught by Faf du Plessis at short mid-wicket for 19.
And with the first two balls of his next over, Duminy had Nuwan Kulasekara caught behind for one and debutant Tharindu Kaushal lbw for a golden duck on his one-day international debut
In the midst of Duminy's treble, leg-spinner Imran Tahir dismissed Thisara Perera as Sri Lanka lost four wickets for two runs in nine balls in collapsing to 118 for six.
And just before rain stopped play, veteran Kumar Sangakkara, in what could be his final one-day international before retirement, was caught at deep third man off Morne Morkel for 45 to leave Sri Lanka - who won the toss - 127 for nine in the 37th over
10. Mohammad Shami
Mohammad Shami, who wouldn't have played this game had Bhuvneshwar Kumar been fit, turned out to become the one to secure India’s victory against Afghanistan with this historic hat-trick.
Dodging a potential banana peel, India on Saturday remained undefeated in this World Cup but couldn’t have been harder pushed by Afghanistan, who fell just 11 runs short of chasing down a miser 224 for eight sported by Virat Kohli & Co in a thrilling encounter.
While Jasprit Bumrah once again proved he is the crown jewel of this bowling attack with his double-wicket maiden and brilliant penultimate over of the innings, it was his fellow pacer Mohammed Shami who delivered the death blow and became only the second Indian - after Chetan Sharma - and 10th player to bag a World Cup hat-trick.
Shami, who wouldn't have played this game had Bhuvneshwar Kumar been fit, turned out to become the one to secure India’s victory with this historic hat-trick, which began with the prized scalp of Nabi and ended with a whirring yorker that demolished the stumps of No.11 Mujeeb. There was a point, when the game dangled dangerously when Nabi smeared a hard-to-hit low full-toss off Shami across the boundary to leave Afghanistan needing 12 off the last five balls with three wickets in hand. But the pacer followed it with a dot ball and dismissed Nabi, Aftab Alam, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman in successive deliveries (two of them lethal yorkers) and by the end of his spell, Shami had finished with 4 wickets for 40 runs off 9.5 overs. Take a bow!
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