Star Indian cricketer Shardul Thakur registered his name in history in grandeur in a hat-trick for Mumbai during the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024-25 Elite Group A match against Meghalaya being played at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy BKC in Mumbai on January 30, Thursday. The 33-year-old fast bowler, who had represented India in 11 Test matches so far, achieved the feat by sending three Meghalaya batsmen back to the pavilion with the last three balls of his second over.
Thakur is the fifth Mumbai/Bombay bowler to take such a treble in the Ranji Trophy and the first since Royston Dias in the 2023-24 season, who dismissed three batters in three balls in the match.
Bowlers to get Hattrick in Ranji trophy for Mumbai
Jehangir Khot vs Baroda (1943-44)
Umesh Kulkarni vs Gujrat (1963-64)
Am Ismail vs Saurashtra (1973-74)
Royston Dias vs Bihar (2023-24)
Shardul Thakur vs Meghalaya (2024-25)
Shardul opened his account on Thursday by taking the wicket of Nishanta Chakraborty with the fourth delivery of the match and picked up his second victim also with the fourth ball of the second over by dismissing Balchander Anirudh. Thakur breached Anirudh’s defense and dismissed him for a three-ball duck. Shardul then toiled for the next one too, and Sumit Kumar nicked it home for a golden duck. Shardul’s third was from Jaskirat Singh, whose defense was breached, and the wooden stumps shattered. This also meant Jaskirat had to depart. The nasty hat trick for Shardul.
Shardul’s impressive performance with the ball left Meghalaya winless at 2 for 5 in just three overs.
The new-ball bowler, Mohit Avasthi, also took two wickets to his name in this very match. He picked up his first wicket, Kishan Lyngdoh, in the last ball of the second over. Kishan (naught off four), who was caught by Akash Anand, was then clean bowled when Mohit bowled the first ball of the fourth over directed towards Arpit Subash Bhatewara.
The match against Meghalaya would be a significant win for Mumbai, who have lifted the Ranji Trophy title on 42 occasions.
These days, Shardul is in fantastic form. In his previous Ranji match for Mumbai, Shardul scored the most runs in both innings against Jammu and Kashmir.
The member of India’s 2023 ODI World Cup squad scored 51 runs from 57 balls in the first innings after coming in to bat at No. 8 and destroyed Jammu and Kashmir in the second innings with 119 runs off 135 balls. In his second innings, Shardul had his appearance chopped out for 18 fours and was involved in missing 184 runs with the eighth wicket together with Tanush Kotian, who scored 62 runs. Nevertheless, despite his brilliant innings, Mumbai stunned Jammu and Kashmir by five wickets.
