Darshan Nalkande added another feather to his cap on Saturday by picking four wickets in four balls in the second semi-final of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT). In doing so he became just the second bowler after fellow Karnataka star Abhimanyu Mithun, who had achieved this feat in 2019. The hat-trick (four wickets in four balls) came in the final over of the Karnataka innings as he dismissed Aniruddha Joshi, B.R. Sharath, Jagadeesha Suchith, and Abhinav Manohar.
The 23-year-old is on the books of Indian Premier League (IPL) side Punjab Kings (PBKS) and has already grabbed 13 wickets in this season of SMAT. Representing Vidarbha in the second semi-final, Nalkande was initially expensive before doing the incredible in the final over.
This is the ninth instance that a bowler has picked up four wickets in four balls in T-20 cricket; four of those have been witnessed on Indian soil.
Andre Russell - West Indies A vs India A, Bangalore, 2013
Rashid Khan - Afghanistan vs Ireland, Dehradun, 2019
Abhimanyu Mithun - Karnataka vs Haryana, Surat, 2019
Darshan Nalkande - Vidarbha vs Karnataka, Delhi, 2021
Vidarbha is incredibly the first team to have multiple hat tricks in the same season of the SMAT. Earlier, Akshay Karnewar did it against Sikkim while Darshan Nalkande bagged the hat-trick against Karanataka at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi in the second semi-final of the SMAT on November 20. Nalkande despite being prolific for his domestic side has been warming the bench for his IPL side PBKS and is yet to make an IPL debut. However, he is a part of the franchise since 2019.
