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

Joginder Rao

No Image Available

Born in 1938, this medium pacer from Haryana finds his name recurrent in statistics pertaining to domestic cricket, by virtue of his love for hat-tricks. This man started his first-class career with a bang, claiming three hat-tricks in his first two matches. But sadly, he played only three more.

At the age of 25, already working for the Indian Army, he was handed his first-class debut for Services against Jammu & Kashmir at the Army Headquarters in Delhi. He instantly repaid his captain's faith in him, as he got rid of the opposing captain Tahir Firdausi, the wicketkeeper Vijay Malhotra and a promising cricketer Abdur Rauf, thus claiming a hat-trick in the first session of his debut Test.

With this, Joginder became only the second bowler to take a hat-trick on first-class debut, after the Pune-based pacer Vasant Ranjane. One can however doubt the mettle in the opposition, as Jammu & Kashmir were playing in only their fifth year in the Ranji Trophy, without having registered a single win and having just one draw to boast of in over 20 matches by then.

Nevertheless, Joginder had a terrific debut, finishing with figures of 26-12-35-8, as the men on the frontiers thrashed the borderline Indian state by an innings and 68 runs.

The Services then headed northwest to play Northern Punjab at the Gandhi Sports Complex Ground in Amritsar. Northern Punjab, a similarly weak team, made its Ranji debut in 1960, just a year later than Jammu and Kashmir. They had won only two matches by this time, and both were against Jammu & Kashmir.

The latest kid on the block, Joginder continued to show his ruthlessness against fragile teams. In the first innings, he couldn’t manage a wicket despite Services bowling out Northern Punjab for a mere 108.

However, he made a strong comeback in the second innings with a brilliant seven wicket haul. Taking a 7-for is big enough, but the manner in which he produced those figures was truly remarkable, as Joginder took two hat-tricks in one innings.

This feat has been achieved by only one other player, Albert Trott. Joginder remains the only player in the history of first class cricket to take three hat-tricks in his first two first-class matches.

Unfortunately, for all the hype surrounding him, he was able to take just six wickets in the next three matches as Services lost their quarter-final spot to Delhi.

A Major General in the Indian National Army, he fought in the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971.

Sadly, an accident during a parachute training event led to the premature end of his cricketing career. But with the typical determination of a soldier, he never gave up playing sports, and even earned a maiden India call-up in golf. He later redesigned the Army Golf Course at Delhi as well as the Dehra Dun Golf Course.

He passed away in 1994.