CDS (I) 2023 General Knowledge · Question 117 of 120

Correct — B, United Arab Emirates. Karthik Meiyappan is a leg-spinner who plays for the United Arab Emirates, and his hat-trick came in the first round of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 on 18 October 2022, when he dismissed Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka and the Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka in successive deliveries. It mattered for three separate reasons at once: it was the first hat-trick in a Twenty20 international by any UAE player, the fifth in the history of the T20 World Cup, and the first taken by a player from an ICC associate member against a full member. Sri Lanka appears in the option list precisely because they were the opponents, and a candidate who half-remembers the match will reach for that name.

• (a)Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe played in the same first round of the 2022 tournament and went on to the Super 12s, which is what makes the name familiar — but Meiyappan is not a Zimbabwe player.
• (c)Sri Lanka — The team the hat-trick was taken against, not the team he plays for. Rajapaksa, Asalanka and Shanaka were the three batters dismissed.
• (d)Namibia — Namibia is the other associate side that made headlines in that first round. It is here to pair with the UAE as a plausible associate answer, but the bowler is not theirs.

The International Cricket Council divides its members into full members, who play Test cricket, and associate members, who qualify for global events through a separate pathway. The UAE is an associate side, and its cricket draws heavily on a large expatriate population. A hat-trick — three wickets in three consecutive deliveries by the same bowler — is rare enough in international cricket that each one at a World Cup is counted, which is why this particular spell is on record from several angles at once.

The way in is to notice that the question names the tournament and the achievement but not the opponent, while one of the options is the opponent. That is a deliberate arrangement: the two associate sides in the list, the UAE and Namibia, are the realistic candidates for a first-round hat-trick, and between them the extra detail worth holding is that the record was made specifically against a full member. Sports questions in this paper are usually one line of recall with no way to reason around them, so the practical advice is to keep a short list of what happened at the big tournaments in the year before the exam, with the athlete, the country and the specific feat attached.

• Karthik Meiyappan represents the United Arab Emirates in international cricket.
• His hat-trick came on 18 October 2022 in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, against Sri Lanka.
• The three batters dismissed were Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka and the Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka.
• It was the first Twenty20 international hat-trick by a UAE player and the fifth at a T20 World Cup.
• It was the first T20 World Cup hat-trick by a player from an ICC associate member against a full member.

• Choosing the opposing team when a question names a feat but not the opponent.
• Assuming a rare bowling record must belong to a full member side.
• Mixing up the two associate sides that featured in the same first round.

As a one-line recall pairing a sportsperson with a country or a feat, usually drawn from the twelve months before the exam.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  A 'hat-trick' in cricket means that a bowler has taken

  • (a)three wickets in a match
  • (b)three wickets in three consecutive deliveries
  • (c)three wickets in one over
  • (d)three catches in an innings

  Answer(b) three wickets in three consecutive deliveries — the deliveries may run across overs or innings, but they must be consecutive for that bowler.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In the International Cricket Council's structure, the United Arab Emirates is classified as

  • (a)A full member
  • (b)An associate member
  • (c)A permanent observer
  • (d)An affiliate of the Asian Cricket Council only

  Answer(b) An associate member — full membership is the category that carries Test status.