‘Every ball was like free hit’: How an uncapped Indian bowler foxed Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers to get hat-trick

One of the beauties of the IPL is that it gives the opportunity to domestic stars to perform against some of the best world cricket has to offer.

Remember the sight of Jasprit Bumrah clean bowling AB de Villiers and giving him a send-off? Well, the next year, Bumrah made his India debut and the rest as they say is history. Ever since, such occurrences have been common and several youngsters have been elevated on the fast track to success.

In 2021, Harpreet Brar had his moment under the sun when he dismissed Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell, and the most recent example from IPL 2022 was that of Umran Malik who succeeded against some hotshot batters.

In 2019, another Indian bowler who had a match to remember was 28-year-old Shreyas Gopal. Playing for Rajasthan Royals, Gopal dismissed Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Marcus Stoinis of Royal Challengers Bangalore to claim a hat-trick in just the second over of the match. Recalling one of the biggest highlights of his career, Gopal opened up on his planning, saying he knew that the batters would go after him, especially after openers Kohli and de Villiers had scored 35 off the first nine balls of the innings.

“I knew every ball was like a free-hit and I just didn’t want to get hit for sixes, that was my plan. I knew they had to come hard at me and I had only two fielders on the shorter side. The odds were stacked against me. But since I have played here a lot, I understood the wicket and conditions better, and realised that I had to bowl a little more overspin than pushing it through. That helped me, but on another day those deliveries could have gone out of the park against such world class batters,” Gopal said on the sidelines of the inaugural edition of the Maharaja Trophy.

Gopal, who has been part of Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, has also turned out for Bengaluru Blasters, Namma Shivamogga, Mysuru Warriors and Hubli Tigers in previous years in the erstwhile Karnataka Premier League, which has been relaunched as the Maharaja Trophy from 2022. The experienced spinner will be one of the most watched cricketers in the T20 tournament, and he explained that in the shortest format of the game, one of the most important qualities for a spinner is a big heart.

“As a spinner the one thing I have been taught is you need to have a big heart because every batter targets spinners, and you will be targeted. Batters will look to take you on and score big against you, but you need to have a big heart and come in with more aggression after that. You also need to understand the conditions and bowl smartly to get that extra dot ball or wicket,” he added.

“Spinners are capable of taking three wickets in an over and there’s more chances for wickets in death bowling, but you also can get hit a lot more. As a bowler, trying to assess conditions beforehand helps, small things like that is what will give you the edge or that magic over.”