Deepak Chahar Becomes First Indian Male Cricketer To Claim Hat-trick in T20Is

Chahar scalped Shafiul Islam on the final delivery of the 18th over and then struck twice in the final over to send Mustafizur Rahman and Aminul Islam back to the pavilion and complete his hat-trick.

Seamer Deepak Chahar scripted history on Sunday as he became the first Indian male cricketer to claim a hat-trick in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) during the third T20I against Bangladesh played at the Vidharbha Cricket Ground in Nagpur. Deepak Chahar bowled a terrific spell to return with figures of 6 wickets for 7 runs, the best ever by a bowler  in T20 cricket, and help the hosts India clinch the series decider against Bangladesh. Chahar scalped Shafiul Islam on the final delivery of the 18th over and then struck twice in the final over to send Mustafizur Rahman and Aminul Islam back to the pavilion and complete his hat-trick. While Deepak Chahar is the first Indian male to claim a hat-trick in the T20Is, four Indian bowlers; Chetan Sharma, Kapil Dev, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami have achieved the feat in the 50-over format. In Tests, only Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan are the two Indian bowlers with claim a hat-trick. It is notable that Ekta Bisht was the first Indian to take a hat-trick in T20Is in a women's match against Sri Lanka in 2012. After the match, Chahar, who was named as the man of the match for his performance, credited skipper Rohit Sharma and the team management for bringing out the best in him. “I never thought of this, not even in my dreams. I have been trying to work hard since my childhood and my efforts have paid off. Rohit was planning to give me the crucial overs and the management wanted to do the same. I always focus on the next ball, I keep doing that, until I don’t complete my spell,” he said. India clinched the 3-match T20I series against Bangladesh after beating the visitors by 30 runs in the series decider at Nagpur on Sunday. While Deepak Chahar shined with the ball picking up his maiden 5-wicket haul in T2OIs, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer struck breezy half tons to help India post a challenging 174 run target against the 'Bangla Tigers' and help their bowlers to defend a substantial score.