<P> A hat - trick in cricket is when a bowler takes three wickets on consecutive deliveries, dismissing three different batsmen . It is a relatively rare event in One Day International (ODI) cricket with only 44 occurrences in more than 3,800 matches since the first ODI, between Australia and England on 5 January 1971 . The first ODI hat - trick was taken by Jalal - ud - Din of Pakistan, playing against Australia in Hyderabad, Sindh in September 1982 and the first world cup hat trick was taken by Chetan Sharma of India against New Zealand . </P> <P> The only bowler to have taken three career hat - tricks is Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka, while three other bowlers (Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq and Chaminda Vaas) have taken two hat - tricks . Hat - tricks are dominated by fast bowlers with Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq, Bangladesh's Abdur Razzak and Taijul Islam, Zimbabwe's Prosper Utseya, South Africa's JP Duminy, Sri Lanka's Wanidu Hasaranga and India's Kuldeep Yadav, the only seven spinners to have taken an ODI hat - trick . Vaas of Sri Lanka became the only bowler to claim a hat - trick in the first three balls of any form of international cricket when he took the first three wickets off the opening three balls of their match against Bangladesh during the 2003 World Cup . Lasith Malinga is also the only player to claim 4 consecutive wickets in 4 balls, a feat he achieved against South Africa . Four players have taken a hat - trick on their ODI debut: Taijul Islam from Bangladesh in a match against Zimbabwe, Kagiso Rabada from South Africa against Bangladesh, Wanidu Hasaranga from Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe and Shehan Madushanka from Sri Lanka against Bangladesh . Eight hat - tricks have occurred in World Cup matches . </P> <P> Pakistanis Wasim Akram and Mohammad Sami have both achieved hat - tricks in ODI and Test cricket . Brett Lee, Thisara Perera and Lasith Malinga are the only three cricketers to have taken a hat - trick in ODI and Twenty20 International cricket . </P>

Who has taken the most hat tricks in cricket