“Will be the sweetest thing if possible”: Karthik Meiyappan wants UAE to defeat Sri Lanka to complement his T20 World Cup 2022 hat trick

Karthik Meiyappan became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in ICC T20 World Cup 2022 against Sri Lanka in Geelong.

Sri Lanka and UAE are up against each other in the Group-A match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. This is a virtual knockout as the loser of this match will bow out of the tournament. Sri Lanka lost their first match against Namibia, whereas the Netherlands defeated UAE in their opening match.

The pitch was a difficult one to bat on, where Sri Lanka managed to score 152-8 in the first innings. Pathum Nissanka scored a brilliant knock of 74 runs in 50 balls, but the rest of the batters failed to impress. Karthik Meiyappan and Zahoor Khan bowled brilliant spells for UAE.

In the 15th over of the match, UAE’s spinner Karthik Meiyappan surprised everyone and took the first hat-trick of the T20 World Cup 2022. He took the wickets of Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka on the 3rd, 4th and 5th balls, respectively. He was elated after completing the milestone.

Karthik Meiyappan wants UAE to defeat Sri Lanka to complement his hat trick

Karthik Meiyappan gave an interview mid-innings where he said that the feeling of taking a hat trick against Sri Lanka in a T20 World Cup has not sunk in yet. He also revealed his plan against Shanaka and said that the pitch is not offering much purchase. Meiyappan insists that it will be the sweetest thing if UAE batters can win the match for the side.

“Definitely hasn’t (sunk in). Getting a hat-trick in a World Cup game against Sri Lanka. Against the leftie, I wanted to take it away from him. Against Shanaka, that was a special ball for me to get him bowled between bat and pad,” Karthik Meiyappan said in mid-innings.

“There was not so much purchase off the wicket, but it was important for me to bowl wicket to wicket. Will be the sweetest thing possible if the batters get us over the line.”

Well done Karthik Meiyappan. Sometimes you get hat-tricks with batters slogging three into the deep. This was a properly earned hat-trick.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 18, 2022

Meiyappan became the fifth bowler after Brett Lee, Kagiso Rabada, Wanindu Hasaranga and Curtis Campher to take a hattrick in T20 World Cup. Lee completed the milestone in 2007, whereas the rest of the three did it in 2021.