Uttar Pradesh captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar scored his maiden T20 hat-trick in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy group stage final against Jharkhand on Thursday.
After being set a must-win target of 161 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Bhubaneswar’s economic self-confidence conceded just six runs in their first three overs with the new ball.
The 34-year-old later came back with the ball in his final over in the 17th over and dismissed Robin Menge, Bal Krishna (0), and Vivek Anand Tiwari (0) to make it 4-1-6-3. Bhubaneswar’s spell eventually turned out to be a game-changer as UP defeated Jharkhand by 10 runs.
In Uttar Pradesh’s inaugural Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Delhi at the Wankhede Stadium last month, Bhuvneshwar overtook Jasprit Bumrah to become the first Indian pacer to take 300 T20 wickets. Among Indians, only spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (364), Piyush Chawla (319) and R Ashwin (310) have taken more wickets than Bhuvneshwar in the T20 format. Bhuvneshwar’s 90 career wickets have come in the national colors between 2012 and 2022, making him the second highest wicket-taker for India.
Meerut’s Swing Raja made his T20 debut in 2009 in a Champions League T20 match for Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. He went wicketless in his first game against Delhi Daredevils with 31 runs in four overs. In 176 matches, Bhuvneshwar has taken 181 wickets, making him the most successful seamer in the history of the tournament.
Bhuvneshwar was retained by RCB for Rs 10.75 crore in the IPL 2025 Mega Auction.