Yuzvendra Chahal became the first bowler in this season of Indian Premier League to grab a hat-trick as his sensational over tilted the match decisively in Rajasthan Royals favour against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a real humdinger at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
The leggie picked up 4 wickets in the over and this included his maiden hat-trick in the IPL. He finished with figures of 5/40 as KKR fell agonisingly short of the target of 218 runs by 7 runs. In this sensational over, Chahal sent back Venkatesh Iyer in the first ball. He then came back in the fourth ball of the over to trap KKR captain Shreyas Iyer (85). Shivam Mavi walked in and tried to smash the ball over long on, but holed out and then Chahal bowled the perfect leg-break to get the edge of Pat Cummins to complete his first hat-trick.
This was a stunning comeback from Chahal as he returned after conceding 17 runs in his first over as KKR were right on track to chase down the 218-run target.
This over proved to be the turning point in this match, but Umesh Yadav came and smashed 2 sixes and a 4 off Trent Boult to put the match back in balance. However, his nine-ball 21 wasn’t enough as the Kolkata Knight Riders were knocked over for 210 and they lost the match by seven runs.
Speaking after the match, Chahal said that his plan was to go wide outside the off stump to right-handers and force them to swing towards the longer boundary. “I was thinking of a googly (hat-trick ball) but then I didn’t want to take a chance. Would have been happy with a dot ball as well on my hat-trick ball. My googly was coming out well and sent it down to Venkatesh Iyer,” he said.
Here is how Twitter reacted to this feat:
Harbhajan Singh was all praise for Yuzvendra Chahal.
It was an incredible game and Parthiv Patel lauded KKR for their fighting spirit.
Sehwag expressed his feelings in his own inimitable style.
Alan Wilkins called it the best match of this season.
Graeme Swann was trying to catch his breath.
Here are other reactions:
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