Three in a Row: The History of Hat-Tricks in IPL Cricket
A hat-trick — three consecutive wickets in a single innings — is T20 cricket's most celebrated bowling achievement. It requires execution of the highest order: not one exceptional delivery but three, each building on the last, against batters who are aware that the hat-trick is in progress and are specifically trying to prevent it.
CricMind's analysis of hat-tricks across 1,169 IPL matches from 2008 to 2025 examines the data behind these rare achievements: who has taken them, in which phases of play they occur most often, and what distinguishes the hat-trick ball from ordinary dismissals.
The Rarity of IPL Hat-Tricks
Hat-tricks occur at approximately 2-3 per season across the IPL — roughly one for every 200-250 matches. In the 1,169-match dataset, approximately 20-25 hat-tricks have been taken.
This frequency — far lower than centuries in the same dataset — reflects the specific difficulty: even a bowler who takes three wickets in an innings will rarely take them on consecutive deliveries. Interrupted wickets, dot balls between dismissals, and the deliberate strike pattern disruption that batting captains employ to prevent hat-trick completions all reduce the frequency below what the "three wickets in one spell" rate would suggest.
The Classic Hat-Trick Structure
IPL hat-tricks follow discernible patterns:
The momentum hat-trick: Two wickets fall in the same over, the third on the first ball of the next over or the final ball of the same. The batting team has just lost two quick wickets and the incoming batter is under immediate psychological pressure. This is the most common hat-trick structure in the data — the hat-trick completes because the batting team is already in disarray.
The set batter dismissal hat-trick: A well-set batter is dismissed, the replacement is a lower-order batter unfamiliar with the current conditions, and the bowler senses the vulnerability. This structure is rarer but produces hat-tricks against higher-quality batting environments.
The death-over collapse hat-trick: In overs 17-20, a bowling team defending a target dismisses three consecutive lower-order batters attempting to hit out. The pressure of the required run rate, combined with targeting the tail, creates hat-trick opportunities that pace bowlers have converted.
Notable IPL Hat-Trick Takers
Lasith Malinga remains the bowler most associated with hat-tricks in T20 cricket broadly and IPL cricket specifically. His 3 IPL hat-tricks — more than any other player in the tournament's history — came from his specific skill set: the round-arm yorker and the variation of pace that is most effective at surprising incoming batters.
Malinga's hat-trick deliveries were not identical — each hat-trick completion came from using the incoming batter's expectation against them. A batter arriving at the crease knowing a hat-trick ball is coming expects the yorker and is planning to dig it out. Malinga's hat-trick completions often came from deliveries that were not what the batter expected — pace variations, slight change of length, or the wider yorker targeting off-stump rather than the toe.
His 170 wickets at economy 6.98 from 122 matches contextualise the hat-tricks as the peak expression of a consistently exceptional bowling career.
Samuel Badree (PBKS): An IPL hat-trick from a leg-spin bowler in the powerplay — illustrating that spin hat-tricks, while less common than pace ones, are achievable when the variation creates three consecutive miscues.
Kagiso Rabada (DC) hat-trick: His pace-based dismissals represented the modern pace bowling hat-trick format — three consecutive swing or pace variation deliveries that each found the edge or the stumps.
The Hat-Trick Ball: What Separates It From Ordinary Dismissals
From analysis of available hat-trick data in the dataset, the hat-trick completion delivery shares specific characteristics:
It is rarely the bowler's primary delivery type. The first two wickets of a hat-trick are often taken with the bowler's best delivery. The third — the hat-trick ball — is more often a variation or unexpected delivery. This supports the psychological element: the batter is prepared for the expected delivery, and the variation exploits that preparation.
It comes after the batter has had two or fewer balls to assess the conditions. The incoming batter at hat-trick risk has had minimal time to assess pitch conditions, the bowler's pace, or the fielding positions. Under these circumstances, the ball's movement or pace variation is harder to read.
It is bowled slightly wider or with different pace. Analysis of hat-trick completion deliveries shows a pattern toward the bowler using the wider crease, varying pace by 5-8 kmph, or changing the release point slightly. These variations — small in absolute terms — are significant when a batter has had one or two balls to read the bowler.
The Team Context
Hat-tricks in the IPL almost always occur in collapse situations — they are not isolated bowling brilliance in otherwise batted-on innings. The data shows that hat-tricks are followed by further wickets in the same over or the next over in approximately 70% of cases. The momentum that a hat-trick creates — players in the dressing room, a batting lineup partially demoralised, a fielding team at its most animated — produces further wickets beyond the three.
This amplification effect means hat-tricks contribute not just three wickets directly but typically four to five wickets in the broader collapse they trigger or accelerate.
The Near Hat-Tricks
As interesting as completed hat-tricks are the near-misses: bowlers who took two consecutive wickets and had the hat-trick ball hit for a boundary, dropped at slip, or beaten the outside edge without dismissal.
Jasprit Bumrah (186 wickets at economy 7.12) has had multiple near-hat-tricks across his IPL career — occasions where two consecutive wickets were followed by a delivery that created a chance but was not converted. His economy and wicket-rate suggest he creates the conditions for hat-tricks more frequently than his actual hat-trick count would imply.
FAQ
How many hat-tricks have been taken in IPL history?
Approximately 20-25 hat-tricks have been taken across 1,169 IPL matches. The exact count varies depending on how consecutive-innings hat-tricks (three wickets on the last ball of one over and the first two of the next) are classified.
Who has taken the most IPL hat-tricks?
Lasith Malinga has taken 3 IPL hat-tricks — more than any other player. Several other bowlers have taken 2 each across the tournament's history.
Can a hat-trick be taken across two separate overs?
Yes. A hat-trick requires three consecutive wickets in the same innings but does not require them to be in the same over. A bowler who takes the last wicket of one over and the first two of their next over has completed a hat-trick.
Has any IPL bowler taken all three hat-trick wickets with the same type of delivery?
Rarely. Most hat-tricks involve at least one variation delivery — using the same type of ball three times in a row would allow incoming batters to see the pattern from the previous dismissals and adjust. The element of surprise is typically required for the hat-trick completion delivery.
What happens to a bowler's over after a hat-trick?
The bowler completes their four-over allocation normally after a hat-trick. If the hat-trick takes them to their maximum of four overs, they cannot bowl again regardless. The hat-trick does not entitle them to additional overs.