The term hat-trick got a new meaning on Tuesday in the IPL, thanks to Brendon McCullum’s acrobatic effort at the boundary line.
Chris Gayle, who has been out of form, completed his 10,000 runs in Twenty20 cricket with a single off Basil Thampi in the fourth over and then exploded in typical style.
The West Indies batsman then blasted his first six of the innings over mid-off. He sent young mystery spinner Shivil Kaushik for another maximum over long-off in the seventh over.
Gayle then exploded with successive fours and a six off left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
And that’s when the bizarre moment unfolded. He blasted the last delivery of the over towards long-off where he was brilliantly ‘caught’ by McCullum – a full-stretch one-handed effort.
However, Gayle survived after multiple replays showed that McCullum’s hat had touched the boundary line.
All because of a floppy hat! And Gayle duly went and patted McCullum on his back for the magnificent effort before getting back to blasting sixes.
Gayle made Lions pay as he brought up his fifty with a massive six over long on off Kaushik in the 10th over and then clobbered Smith for another six as RCB reached the 100-mark.
The dashing opener sent Smith out of the park again in the fourth ball over long-on as RCB picked 17 runs off the over.
In the 13th over, Thampi finally dismissed Gayle when he trapped him leg before to break the partnership.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to that bizarre moment.
With PTI inputs