Watch: UAE leg-spinner Karthik Meiyappan claimed a hat-trick against Sri Lanka, becoming the fifth player in T20 World Cup history to take three wickets in three balls.
Meiyappan achieved the feat during the Group A match between the two teams in Geelong, as part of the ongoing qualifying round in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Batting first, Sri Lanka were comfortably placed at 114-2. They were looking for quick runs when Meiyappan began the 15th over of the innings. He had figures of 2-0-14-0 at that point. After conceding three runs off the first three deliveries, Meiyappan tossed one up, and Bhanuka Rajapaksa holed out to deep cover, where Basil Hameed took a simple catch.
Meiyappan followed it up with a googly to Charith Asalanka, who could not read the variation and ended up poking at the delivery, gifting a faint edge to wicketkeeper Vriitya Aravind. Next ball, he repeated the googly, finding the gap between captain Dasun Shanaka’s bat and pad to clean him up and claim a hat-trick.
The hat-trick left Sri Lanka at 117-5 at the end of the 15th over. They recovered to post a competitive 152-8, with Meiyappan finishing with figures of 4-0-19-3.
It is the 39th instance of a hat-trick in men’s T20Is, and the first instance of a UAE bowler achieving the feat. Four others – Brett Lee (2007), Curtis Campher (2021), Wanindu Hasaranga (2021) and Kagiso Rabada (2021) – have achieved the feat in men’s T20 World Cups. It is also the fourth hat-trick against Sri Lanka in men’s T20Is.
