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Sydney Thunder pace star Gurinder Sandhu didn't realise at first that he snared a hat-trick in his team's BBL win over the Perth Scorchers.
Sydney Thunder paceman Gurinder Sandhu says he had no idea he had snared a hat-trick during his side's six-wicket BBL win over the Perth Scorchers at Metricon Stadium.
In an innings reduced to 18 overs due to an early rain delay in Thursday's match, Sandhu snared 4-22 to restrict the Scorchers to 9-133.
Under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, the Thunder had then required 135 for victory.
The Thunder needed 40 runs off the final four overs of their innings, and Sam Billings (19no off 11 balls) and Oliver Davies (19 off 10) got them over the line with six balls to spare.
In November, Sandhu had become the first Australian to pick up two List-A hat-tricks.
His first came while playing for Tasmania against Victoria in the Marsh Cup final in 2018, and he repeated the heroics while playing for Queensland in a 50-over match against South Australia in November.
The 28-year-old now has a BBL hat-trick to his name after snaring Scorchers trio Colin Munro (18 off 20 balls), Aaron Hardie (4), and Laurie Evans (20) in consecutive deliveries.
Munro was the first to fall on the last ball of the 12th over when he struck Sandhu straight to cover.
Then, as Sandhu returned to the attack in the 16th over, Hardie immediately holed out in the deep, before Evans skied one high for an easy catch.
Sandhu didn't realise he had taken a hat-trick until after the Scorchers had batted.
"I had absolutely no idea, which is kind of a good thing because then maybe I would have tried too hard on that ball or changed up what I was doing," Sandhu told AAP.
"As I walked off, I chatted to Erin Holland from channel 7 and she said, 'Well done, the first Sydney Thunder player to get a hat-trick'.
"I actually thought in my mind that she stuffed up, but I was the one who had it wrong.
"I was surprised, because I had no idea. I've already had one this year, so I was like, 'there's no chance anybody can get two in a year, let alone in a career'.
"It's pretty cool. It's something when I finish playing I'll look back on and go, 'wow'."
Ashton Agar (22 off 10 balls), who managed to ensure Sandhu didn't make it four wickets from four balls, proved the only Scorchers player to strike the ball with any real consistency.
The Thunder looked in control for most of their run chase after solid knocks from Jason Sangha (34), Matthew Gilkes (32), Alex Hales (26).
Things started to look tight near the end as their run rate dropped, before Billings and Davies unleashed some powerful strikes to get the job done.
The Scorchers remain on top of the ladder with an 8-2 record, but they have now been beaten twice by the Thunder (6-3) this season.
