Australia's Hattrick Hero Nathan Ellis Lands IPL Deal

Australian pacer Nathan Ellis has landed an Indian Premier League (IPL) contract ahead of the second leg of the league in the UAE.

It caps off a whirlwind 24 hours for the 26-year-old, who was named as a traveling reserve in Australia's squad for the Men's T20 World Cup on Thursday.

"Ellis was being chased by three IPL franchises for the upcoming tournament before agreeing to terms with an unnamed team on Thursday night," said a report by cricket.com.au.

Though the name of the franchise hasn't been disclosed yet, Cricket Australia (CA) is expected to approve his association with the team soon.

Ellis recently made his debut for Australia in the third T20I against Bangladesh in Dhaka. He dismissed Mahdmullah, Mehidy Hasan, and Mustafizur Rahman off the final three balls of the innings to become the first cricketer to take a hat-trick on T20I debut. He joined Brett Lee and Ashton Agar to become the third Australian to take a hat-trick in a T20I match.

Ellis, who went unsold in the player auction in January, is supposed to be one of the few international players who are set to replace Australian players with contracts like Pat Cummins, Kane Richardson, Jhye Richardson, and Riley Meredith, who may not take part in the second leg of the IPL.

IPL franchises are set to finalise their squads for the second half of the tournament after it was postponed in May due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic breaching the bio-bubbles in New Delhi and Ahmedabad.