Players with a Ton and Hat trick in the history of IPL
In the Indian Premier League, scoring a century is considered a huge milestone and even a more significant milestone is considered having a hat trick as it’s the world’s toughest league.
Image credit: PA Images Shane Watson Legend in IPLThe best players from around the globe register their names in this prestigious league, out of which only the greatest of the great are selected to play.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the world’s largest T20 league, with players worldwide competing. This year marks the 15th year of the league, which has risen by leaps and bounds since its inception. Almost every prominent cricketer in the last 15 years has participated in the league.
Even though the league has featured some of cricket’s best all-rounders, this rare feat has only been accomplished twice. The shocking thing is that one of these players doesn’t even bowl for their country. Without any further ado, let’s look at these two legends of the game in detail.
Shane Watson
Shane Watson made his IPL debut in the tournament’s inaugural season in 2008, and he competed until 2020. In 2008, he was a member of the Rajasthan Royals’ IPL championship team, led by Shane Warne. The Australian all-rounder Watson was regarded as one of the best fast bowling all-rounders in the IPL’s history. In his IPL career, he has four centuries, the first of which came against the Chennai Super Kings in 2013.
Shane Watson achieved the feat of a hat-trick in the IPL the following year, against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ahmedabad on May 8, 2014. In three consecutive deliveries, the legendary right-arm bowler eliminated Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, and Karn Sharma. He was a complete match-winner for Rajasthan Royals In 2014 as he contributed from both bat and ball in every match.
Watson represented Rajasthan Royals for eight years and was always a valuable player for whichever team he played. After that, he spent a few seasons with Royal Challengers Bangalore before joining his final franchise, Chennai Super Kings, in 2018.
Watson has two hundred each for the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. In 2015, Watson scored his second century for the Rajasthan Royals, whereas on May 16 2015, he struck an unbeaten 104 off 59 balls against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai.
In the 2018 season, he scored two more hundreds for the Chennai Super Kings. CSK won the title the same year with Watson’s unbelievable inning of 117 off 57 balls in the pressure situation of the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Rohit Sharma
Yes! The skipper of India has been playing since the first season of IPL and had made quite a name in the league since the first season as he was a good finisher at that time for Deccan Chargers and also used to bowl a few overs for the franchise even though he was not an all-rounder. The Indian opener is also a part of this elite list and achieved this feat before Watson did it.
In 2009, Rohit Sharma scored a hat-trick in a match against the Mumbai Indians, even more, shocking considering that he’s the skipper of the same franchise in Centurion, South Africa. In the second innings of the match, he completed his hat-trick by dismissing Abhishek Nayar, Harbhajan Singh, and JP Duminy on three consecutive deliveries. Under the guidance of Adam Gilchrist, the Deccan Chargers won the IPL title in the same year.
In 2011, Rohit joined the Mumbai Indians. Rohit scored his first and only IPL century against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata in 2012. In the first innings of the contest, he hit an unbeaten 109 off 60 balls. Sharma amassed 433 runs in 16 innings throughout the season. Most runs scored by him in a season so far.