Gurjapneet Singh takes hat trick in Ranji Trophy second round, enters elite list for Tamil Nadu

Left-arm fast bowler Gurjapneet Singh took a hat trick for Tamil Nadu during his team’s Ranji Trophy round two clash against Nagaland in Dimapur. Gurjapneet became the third player to take a hat trick in this round of the tournament after achieving the feat on Day 2 of the contest at the Nagaland Cricket Stadium on Sunday, October 26.

The left-arm pacer Gurjapneet, who was with the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2025, wreaked havoc in Nagaland’s batting innings early on Day 2. After Tamil Nadu had posted a huge score of 512/3 in the first innings, Tamil Nadu scalped early wickets with Gurjapneet doing the damage. 

The speedster removed Sedezhalie Rupero, Hem Chetri and captain Rongsen Jonathan to bag his hat trick in the sixth over. He took another wicket quickly in the 10th over when he dismissed Chetan Bist to reduce the hosts to 31/4. 

Gurjapneet has become the third player to take a hat trick in the ongoing round of the Ranji Trophy after Services players Arjun Sharma and Mohit Jangra took their hat tricks in the clash against Assam in Tinsukia on Saturday. 

Meanwhile, he is the seventh player from Tamil Nadu to take a hat trick in the domestic premier red-ball competition, joining the likes of B Kalyanasundaram, Bharat Arun, Sunil Subramanium, D Devanand, R Ramkumar and M Mohammed. 

Mohammed was the last player to have taken a hat trick for Tamil Nadu in the tournament, having done so in 2018.

Talking about the match, Tamil Nadu had put up 512/3 in the first innings after Pradosh Paul’s double hundred and a 189 from Vimal Khumar. Andre Siddarth C scored 65, while Baba Indrajith made 32 as well. Nagaland fought back at the end of the day after losing four quick wickets. Dega Nischal and Yugandhar Singh put up unbeaten half-centuries in an unconquered 119-run stand for the fifth wicket. The hosts ended the day on 150/4 but still trail by 362 runs as they have a mountain to climb.