IPL 2023: Rashid Khan takes first hat-trick of season

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IPL 2023: Rashid Khan on Sunday became the first player to take a hat-trick in the IPL 2023 season. He achieved the feat during his side Gujarat Titans' (GT) match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

He first picked the wicket of Andre Russell on the first ball of the 17th over and then followed it with wickets of Sunil Narine and Shardul Thakur on the next two deliveries.

He is the first Gujarat Titans bowler to take a hat-trick in the IPL. Also, this was fourth hat-trick against KKR in the history of IPL. Earlier, Makhaya Ntini (CSK, 2008), Pravin Tambe (RR, 2014) and Yuzevendra Chahal (RR, 2022) have picked a hat-trick each against Kolkata.

The Afghanistan leg-spinner is now the only bowler to pick four hat-tricks in T20 cricket. He has take one hat-trick each in CPL, T20I, BBL and IPL.

Andrew Tye, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Andre Russell and Imran Tahir has picked three T20 hat-tricks each.

However, the stellar performance from the 24-year-old could not save GT from a 3-wicket defeat against KKR.

Batting first GT posted 204/4 in 20 overs. KKR chased down the target on the last ball of the match. Venkatesh Iyer scored 83 runs off 40 balls, while captain Nitish Rana smashed 45 runs off 29 balls.

But it was Rinku Singh's unbeaten 48 off 21 which sealed the deal for KKR in the end. With 29 runs needed in the last over, Rinku smashed back-to-back five sixes after a single from Umesh Yadav on the first ball of the final over.