Watch: Deeban Lingesh's hat-trick in TNPL Qualifier 2

Deeban Lingesh becomes the first bowler of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2026 to take a hat-trick as he achieved the feat during the second qualifier clash, which took place at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. It was a superb start for the Vida Kovai Kings as they picked up three successive wickets to start their defence.

Tricky Grand Cholas showed their dominance in the group stage of the competition as they finished it with five victories in seven clashes at a net run-rate of +0.095. Meanwhile, Vida Kovai finished in third position with four wins in seven fixtures. Both sides reached the second qualifier after the first two knockout games ended in persistent rain.

Three balls, three wickets — Watch Deeban Lingesh's hat-trick against Trichy Grand Cholas

K Rajkumar was on strike for the very first ball of the second innings against Lingesh, who bowled a short delivery keeping the wicket-keeper up to the stumps. It was a tactic from the Shahrukh Khan-led side given the slowness of the surface, which wasn’t offering much pace to the batters to use their feet.

Watch Deeban Lingesh's hat-trick in TNPL 2026-

Rajkumar looked to cut the slow short delivery into the point region and ended up getting an outside edge into the hands of the wicket-keeper, who was delighted with the plan. Lingesh went with a similar delivery at S Shyam Sundar, whose outside edge ended up in the hands of third man inside the ring.

The pacer found himself on a hat-trick on the third ball of the innings against Jagatheesan Kousik, who was stunned by the in-swinging delivery and lost his stumps. Deeban Lingesh picked up the hat-trick in his very first three balls of the game.

How Kovai Kings' Qualifier 2 clash against Trichy was shaping up when the hat-trick struck

Vida Kovai Kings posted a massive score of 183 runs for the loss of five wickets in their allotted 20 overs as their opening partnership of 104 runs gave them a strong platform. Suresh Lokeshwar smashed a dashing knock of 66 runs off 44 balls with the help of eight boundaries and one six, while Sharukh Khan nailed 34 runs off 18 balls, thanks to three boundaries and a pair of sixes.

Trichy Grand Cholas found themselves eight down for 90 runs in 14 overs. India-born Jayaraman Suresh Kumar was the only player to score more than 15 runs as he ended up with 48 runs off 27 balls, thanks to nine boundaries.

Manimaran Siddarth ended up with figures of 4/14 in four overs, while Deevan returned with 3/14 in four overs, including one maiden.

Brief Scores- Vida Kovai Kings 183/5 (Suresh Lokeshwar 66, R Rajkumar 3/29) beat Tricky Grand Cholas 99 (Jayaraman Suresh Kumar 48, M Siddarth 4/14, Deeban Lingesh 3/14) 84 runs.