Karthick Meiyappan moment of glory !

Karthick Meiyappan moment of glory !

The United Arab Emirates is located at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula and shares borders with Oman and Saudi Arabia, while having maritime borders in the Persian Gulf with Qatar and Iran. Abu Dhabi is the nation's capital, while Dubai, the most populous city, is an international hub.  It has been the crossroads of trading for many civilizations, including Mesopotamia, Persia, and India. 

In Cricket, a Cap holds special significance.. it is primarily a head gear.   Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head and have no brim or only a visor.  Sunil Gavaskar in his hay days used to sport a Panama hat.  It   is a traditional brimmed hat of Ecuadorian origin that is made from the plaited leaves of the toquilla straw plant (Carludovica palmata).   

In Cricket, 3 wickets in 3 balls (continuous ones) is an achievement – called hat-trick !!  - there have been quite a few in T20Is.  Of the many, Rashid Khan, Slinga Malinga, C Campher and Jason Holder have taken 4 wickets in 4 balls ! – slightly more than a hattrick. The first hat trick in T20I was taken by Brett Lee in 2007 against Bangladesh. Deepak Chahar has taken one for India, and today another Indian, one from Chennai has joined the list, though he is not representing India.  

Back in 2003, Chaminda  Vaas gave a real flying start to  Sri Lanka's World Cup encounter against  Bangladesh in Pietermaritzburg in 2003. Hannan Sarkar was bowled, Mohammad Ashraful popped back a simple return catch, and Ehsanul Haque edged to second slip. 

In more than 110 years and 1100 Tests up to 1988-89, there had been only 17 hat-tricks - and none of them had been spread over two innings, until West Indies' Walsh dismissed Tony Dodemaide to end Australia's first innings in the first Test in Brisbane, then ripped out Mike Veletta and Graeme Wood with his first two deliveries in the second innings.  In the very next Test after Walsh's inaugural split-innings hat-trick, the big moustached Merv  Hughes came up with an even more complicated one, spread over three overs. In the second Test against West Indies in Perth in 1988-89, he dismissed Curtly Ambrose with the last ball of his 36th over, then (after another wicket had fallen at the other end) polished off the innings by removing Patrick Patterson with the first ball of his next over, to finish with 5 for 130. Then, with the first ball of West Indies' second innings, Hughes trapped Gordon Greenidge plumb in front, and went on to take 8 for 87. The hat-trick was so unusual that Hughes didn't immediately realise he'd taken one, and had to be told about it later. 

The 1st ever hattrick in an ODI was on Sept. 20, 1982 when JalaludDin had Rodney Marsh, Bruce Yardley and Geoff Lawson. In Test Cricket,  the first ever distinction was achieved by Aussie quickie Fred Spofforth who ripped through England’s bating at Melbourne in Jan 1879.   

Almost 35 years ago, in Oct 1987, Chetan Sharma became the first bowler in World Cup history to take a hat-trick. He was the first Indian bowler to do so. The venue was Nagpur, for the 24th match of the Reliance World Cup, where India faced New Zealand. Bowling his nippy cutters and seamers, Sharma castled Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield with the last three balls of his sixth over - the 42^nd of New Zealand's innings - to help set up a nine-wicket win for the defending champions. All 3 batsmen were bowled.

 

Today it was - Karthik Palaniapan Meiyappan  from Chennai who now   plays for the United Arab Emirates national cricket team bowling right-arm leg spin to take a hattrick.  Meiyappan’s victims were - Rajapasa, Asalanka, Shanaka – and his figures read 4-0-19-3.  

Interesting.  

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
18^th Oct 2022.