United Arab Emirates' (UAE) 22-year-old spinner Karthik Meiyappan took the first hat-trick of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. Overall, Meiyappan is the fifth bowler to take a hat-trick in the history of T20 World Cup.
Here is a list of hat-tricks in T20 World Cup's 15-year-long history
Brett Lee (Australia) vs Bangladesh in T20 World Cup 2007
Curtis Campher (Ireland) vs Netherlands in T20 World Cup 2021
Wanindu Hasaranga (Sri Lanka) vs South Africa in T20 World Cup 2021
Kagiso Rabada (South Africa) vs England in T20 World Cup 2021
Karthik Meiyappan (UAE) vs Sri Lanka in T20 World Cup 2022*
Meiyappan’s hat-trick victims
The leg-spinner started off with the wicket of Bhanuka Rajapaksa. He tossed it up offering barely any pace and away from the left-handed batter's arc. Rajapaksa went for the shot and got caught at deep covers by Basil Hameed.
Charith Asalanka came in to bat in the 15th over and was beaten by the googly which took an inside edge and landed in wicketkeeper Vriitya Aravind's gloves. Against skipper Dasun Shanaka, he bowled a slower wrong one and the ball went through the gap between bat and ball.
Best for UAE
Meiyappan conceded just 19 runs from his quota of three overs and prevented Sri Lanka from posting a big total. The three quick wickets helped UAE restrict Sri Lanka to 152/8 at Simonds Stadium, Geelong. This is also the best bowling figures by a UAE bowler in T20 World Cup. He broke his teammate Junaid Siddique's record of 3/24 which he created against Netherlands in the previous encounter at the same venue.
