Jaydev Unadkat Takes First-Over Hat-trick In Ranji Trophy, Becomes First Bowler To Do So

The left-arm speedster also picked the wickets of Jonty Sidhu, Lalit Yadav, Lakshay Thareja, Shivank Vashisht, and Kuldip Yadav and concluded the Delhi innings with his outstanding spell.

Jaydev Unadkat in action.

Source : PTI

In the ongoing Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra, Delhi had a terrible start on Tuesday at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. Their six batters were sent to the pavilion on a duck and they ended up scoring only 133 runs. Saurashtra stalwart Jaydev Unadkat created havoc as he took 8 for 39 in 12 overs.

In the very first over of the match, Unadkat scalped a brilliant hat trick and became the first bowler to achieve this feat in the history of the Ranji Trophy. After the Delhi skipper won the toss and decided to bat first,  Unadkat’s first wicket was off Dhruv Shorey and he followed it up by picking the wickets of Vaibhav Rawal and Yash Dhull on the next two balls.

Irfan Pathan - First bowler to take a hat-trick in first over in Test cricket.

Jaydev Unadkat - First bowler to take a hat-trick in first over in Ranji Trophy.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) January 3, 2023

The left-arm speedster also picked the wickets of Jonty Sidhu, Lalit Yadav, Lakshay Thareja, Shivank Vashisht, and Kuldip Yadav and concluded the Delhi innings with his outstanding spell. His previous best was 7 for 41.

Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat as senior speedster Mohammed Shami's replacement in India's squad for India vs Bangladesh two-match Test series. Jaydev, after toiling hard for 14 long years in domestic cricket, has earned a comeback in the national Test team. So far, Unadkat has played just a single Test match for the national team, back in 2010. He had a poor outing in that match after which he didn't get any opportunity. 

Unadkat so far has played seven ODIs and 10 T20Is for India. Saurashtra captain Unadkat was the highest wicket-taker in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, last month. He bagged 19 wickets in 10 matches. Unadkat has played 96 first-class matches so far in which he has taken 353 wickets.