There are many weird facts in every sport. The game of cricket has a lot of them too. For a bowler, the best feeling in a match is when he gets a hat-trick. In all, there have been just 90 instances where a bowler has taken a hat-trick in 140 years of cricket. The most recent player to take a hat-trick in international cricket was Moeen Ali. He took a hat-trick against South Africa in the 100th Test played at the historical Oval ground.
Australian bowler Fred Spofforth was the first bowler to take a hat-trick in Test cricket in 1879. Jalal-ud din from Pakistan took the first hat-trick in ODI’s against Australia in 1982. But the most number of hat-tricks have been taken by Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga, including a rare feat of picking up four wickets in four consecutive deliveries. He has four hat-tricks to his name. In all, there have been 42 hat-tricks in one-day internationals. Fast bowlers have the majority of share in hat-tricks. Only five spinners have been able to pick up a hat-trick in ODI’s.
There have been two instances where a bowler has taken a hat-trick on two legal deliveries instead of three. The first incidence was when Sri Lankan left-arm fast bowler, Isuru Udana bowled a wide delivery only to stump out the batsman and deceived the batsman with his slower deliveries on the next two balls. He achieved this feat while playing for Wayamba in the Champions league T20 in Port Elizabeth.
The second incidence was achieved by an Indian, Pravin Tambe against Kolkata Knight Rider in 2014. He got Manish Pandey of a wide delivery at the start of the 16th over of the innings. He got Yusuf Pathan and Ryan ten Doeschate on the following deliveries.