Axar Patel registered maiden IPL hat-trick: The former Punjabi all-rounder had changed the course of the match four years ago.
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On this day in 2016, former Kings XI Punjab all-rounder registered his maiden hat-trick in the Indian Premier League during the 28th match of the ninth season of the tournament against Gujarat Lions in Rajkot.
Patel had become only the second bowler after former Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh (two hat-tricks in IPL 2009) to claim a hat-trick for the franchise.
After Gujarat captain Suresh Raina won the toss and invited the visitors in to bat, Kings XI wasted a quickfire start from opening batsmen in captain Murali Vijay (55) and Marcus Stoinis (27) to score a mediocre 154/10 in 19.5 overs.
KXIP pacer Mohit Sharma sent back GL opening batsman Brendon McCullum (1) and Raina (18) inside the powerplay but Punjab needed wickets at regular intervals to restrict the hosts.
Introduced into the attack for his second over right after the powerplay, Patel turned the tables in one over on the back of three dismissals. Opening batsman Dwayne Smith’s (15) attempt of taking on the spinner saw him giving a simple catch to Gurkeerat Singh Mann at long-off.
On the penultimate delivery of the over, Lions wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik (2) failed to read an arm ball from Patel as he played on a delivery back to his stumps.
Coming in to bat at No. 6, Gujarat all-rounder Dwayne Bravo (0) put on display a replica of the previous dismissal as he walked back to the pavilion after facing only one delivery.
Axar Patel registered maiden IPL hat-trick
Not getting carried away with Patel’s game-changing over, Vijay then called him to bowl in the 11th over. It was only on the first delivery that Lions all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (11) edged a Patel delivery to Punjab wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha to hand his counterpart a maiden hat-trick. Jadeja, who expressed disappointment at the umpire’s decision, had no option than to walk back to the pavilion after being given out.
Having registered bowling figures of 4-0-21-4, Patel played a significant role in restricting the home team to 131/9 in 20 overs and staging a 23-run victory.
Patel, who made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2013, represented KXIP from 2014-2018 before moving to Delhi Capitals last year.
In 68 IPL matches for Punjab, Patel picked 61 wickets at an average of 28.93, an economy rate of 7.53 and a strike rate of 23.07. His batting skills saw him scoring 686 runs at an average of 19.06 and a strike rate of 126.57.
