How Many Wickets Constitute A Double Hat-Trick?

While a double hat-trick may seem like six continuous wickets, it is not the case and the reality is quite different

Scoring a hat-trick is a big achievement for a bowler. But since humans are programmed to make improvements, it makes us wonder what could be even better than a hat-trick. That is where many people are curious to know about a double hat-trick. It can be actually confusing since a double hat-trick feels like six continuous wickets. Due to this, people often ask how many wickets constitute a double hat-trick or double hat trick mein kitne wickets hote hain? Let us try to answer these questions for better clarity.

How many wickets constitute a double hat-trick?

For a double hat-trick, the bowler has to take 4 consecutive wickets. That may seem surprising, but the logic works like two overlapping hat-tricks. For example, the first hat-trick could be considered on balls 1-2-3. In this case, the second hat-trick will be considered on balls 2-3-4. In essence, a total of four consecutive wickets constitute a double hat-trick in cricket. This clears the confusion about 6 balls constituting a double hat-trick, which many people believe.

It is interesting to note that a double hat-trick is not officially recognized. Even when there have been double hat-trick events across various cricket tournaments including international cricket matches. It is likely because a double hat-trick event is quite rare. Even when not official, there are various rules applicable for a double hat-trick event to qualify. Some of these are described below.

• Consecutive deliveries – The wickets should be taken on four consecutive deliveries.
• Direct wickets by the bowler – The wickets should be directly associated with the bowler. These include bowled, LBW, caught, hit-wicket, caught-and-bowled and stumped. Wickets like run-outs, hit-wicket on a wide ball and any non-bowler dismissal will not be counted for a double hat-trick.
• One or two overs – A double hat-trick need not be in the same over. As long as the wickets are consecutive, a double hat-trick will be recognized even across two overs.

Double hat-trick records in cricket

Even though a double hat-trick is not officially recognized in cricket, there have been bowlers who have achieved this. Given below are some double hat-trick events in the history of cricket.

Double hat-trick in international cricket

• Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka) — First in ODIs (2007 World Cup vs South Africa) and repeated in T20I (2019 vs New Zealand). He is the only bowler to do it twice in international cricket.
• Rashid Khan (Afghanistan) — T20I vs Ireland (2019).
• Curtis Campher (Ireland) — T20I vs Netherlands (2021 T20 World Cup).
• Jason Holder (West Indies) — T20I vs England (2022).

Apart from these, double hat-trick events have also been recorded across first-class and domestic cricket matches. However, there is no recorded double hat-trick event in Test cricket. Interestingly, even five wickets in an over and even six wickets in an over events have been recorded. However, these are quite rare. Some examples include Brett Randell in Plunket Shield 2026 for 5/5; Aled Carey in 2017 and Matt Rowe in 2023 for 6/6).