The Saurashtra captain just took a hat-trick against Delhi in the first over of the current Ranji Trophy match, continuing his incredible run with the video of Jaydev Unadkat viral
The left-arm bowler shocked the Delhi dressing room by dismissing Dhruv Shorey, Vaibhav Rawal, and Yash Dhull in a superb display of swing bowling. In the opening over of a Ranji Trophy match, Unadkat became the first bowler to record a hat trick.
Jaydev Unadkat takes hat-trick in the first over during Delhi vs Saurashtra Ranji Trophy match, video goes viral
Unadkat making it count for Saurashtra once more.
pic.twitter.com/5UDSV5F6Ii #jaydevunadkat Hattrick
— Rajat Gupta (@Rajatgupta199) January 3, 2023
Hard to tell from this angle but it seemed like the ball came in after pitching and snuck between bat and pad into the stumps . Unadkat gets another one. Vaibhav caught at slip! 0 for 2 and Unadkat on a hat-trick pic.twitter.com/7LXonK8P3Q
— Ayan (@ayan_acharya13) January 3, 2023
Jaydev Unadkat finishes with a career-best 8 for 39, including a first-over hat-trick. Had figures of 2-0-5-5 at one point.
His first two overs:
0 0 W W W 4
0 0 0 W 1 W#SAUvDEL | #RanjiTrophy https://t.co/6SGIgkavRl— Hemant Brar (@Cricquest) January 3, 2023
Jaydev Unadkat took 5 wickets in 10 deliveries against Delhi. With a hattrick! He now has 6 wickets in 7 overs. #RanjiTrophy #jaydevunadkat https://t.co/ZrLbVBSgSI
— Janhavee Moole (@janhavee) January 3, 2023
Unadkat is just making things look absurdly simple, first with his return to the Indian team after a 12-year absence, and now with a hat-trick in the first over. When the conditions allow for seam and swing bowling, the seasoned bowler who enjoys bowling with the red ball has once again shown that he is challenged to escape.
The captain of Saurashtra, Unadkat, dismissed Dhruv Shorey, Vaibhav Rawal, and Yash Dhull off the third, fourth, and fifth deliveries of the game after Delhi’s skipper Dhull made the decisiondecided to bat after winning the toss. The previous earliest hat-trick in a game occurred by fast bowler Vinay Kumar of Karnataka against Mumbai in the quarterfinal of the 2017–18 season; his hat-trick was spread across the first and third overs. In the history of the Ranji Trophy, this was the first first-over hat trick.
By the end of his second over, Unadkat had added two more dismissals, giving him his 21st five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. When he got Lalit Yadav lbw for a four-ball duck with Delhi struggling at 5 for 6, Unadkat’s figures read 2-0-5-5. They were finally dismissed for 133 when Unadkat returned to finish off the tail, marking the first occasion in his 98-match first-class career that he has taken eight wickets in an innings.
The captain steps up at the occasion.
He needed to get the first wicket off Shorey as he has scored the most runs this season with 579 runs in six innings at an average of 144.75 after three rounds.
The match is essential for Saurashtra to advance to the knockout stages. They are now third in Group B with 12 points after three games with one win, two ties, and one loss. Mumbai is currently ranked first, and Maharashtra is placed second.
Unadkat is having a great season as both a bowler and a skipper. With 19 wickets in 10 games and an economy of 3.33, he had the most wickets for Saurashtra last month as they won the Vijay Hazare Trophy. After gaining a Test recall at Mirpur, Unadkat took his first Test wicket and concluded the match with three kills as India defeated Bangladesh 2-0.