Vinay Kumar and the other players who took multiple hat-tricks in Ranji Trophy

Anil Kumble

This stalwart of Indian cricket doesn’t need an introduction. Having finished as India’s leading wicket taker in both Tests and ODIs and having taken 10 wickets in a single innings of a Test, there is no surprise he is on this list.

He was the only Karnataka bowler before Vinay Kumar to have claimed two Ranji Trophy hat-tricks. The first of them was at the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant Stadium in 1991.

After Kumble won the toss and put his team to bat, he scored 64 and had a huge partnership with Kartik Jeshwant, who scored 153 to propel Karnataka to an imposing 461.

Andhra tried to make a contest of this, and were 106/2 at one stage. Then came the champion leg spinner Kumble, who rattled Andhra’s middle and lower order, bowling them out for a cheap 140. During the course of this wicket-frenzy, Kumble took his first hat-trick. Andhra’s middle order went through another familiar collapse in the second innings, as they lost the game by an innings and 74 runs.

Kumble, 22 years old at the time, had played just one Test for India, taking three wickets at Manchester in 1990, following which he was out of the team for nearly two years.

Five years later, he unveiled his nerves of steel, in India’s other steel city, Rourkela, taking his second first-class hat-trick.

A more mature Kumble finished with a ten wicket haul inclusive of a hat-trick, as the Odisha side were at the receiving end of an innings and 123 runs hammering. He was instrumental in that season as Karnataka went on to win their fourth Ranji Trophy, beating Uttar Pradesh in the final.