Jaydev Unadkat rewrote history books by becoming the first cricketer to pick up a hat-trick in the first over of a Ranji Trophy game. The Saurashtra captain, whose international career has got a new lease of life with a stunning comeback against Bangladesh, started 2023 with a bang in a Ranji Trophy Group C match in Rajkot on Tuesday. Unadkat missed Saurashtra’s first two matches this season due to India commitments but the left-arm fast bowler made an impact like never before in his first red-ball cricket appearance this season.
Delhi, who are missing a number of their first-XI cricketers due to injuries, were rendered clueless in front of Unadkat’s mastery. The left-arm pacer dismissed in-form Delhi batter and current highest scorer of this season, Dhruv Shorey, in the third ball of the match after the visitors opted to bat. Vaibhav Rawal and Delhi captain Yash Dhull were sent packing for golden ducks as Unadkat completed his hat-trick. Rawa edged one to keeper Harvik Desai while Dhull was trapped right in front of the wickets. The previous quickest Ranji Trophy hat-trick belonged to Karnataka’s Vinay Kumar who had completed the same in the span of first and third over.
Unadkat wasn’t done. After a dream first over that shell-shocked Delhi, the veteran of 97 first-class matches, struck twice in his next over to complete a five-wicket haul – 21st of his glittering first-class career – in his second over. Jonty Sidhu (4) and debutant Lakshay Thareja (1) were his victims in this over.
In between Unadkat’s mayhem, there was no respite for Delhi from the other end as Chirag Jani dismissed debuant Ayush Badoni for a three-ball duck. Delhi were reduced to 5/6 at the end of 3 overs.
Jani’s second over was the only wicketless over in the match over and it would remain so at least till the fifth over as Unadkat removed Lalit Yadav in his third. Delhi lost 7 wickets for only 10 runs on the board. As many as five of their top six batters were out for a duck – four of them fell to Unadkat.
Thankfully, Pranshu Vijayran and Hrithik Shokeen addressed the slump and somehow saved Delhi from the embarrasement of registering the lowest total in Ranji Trophy – 21 by Hyderabad against Rajasthan in 2010-11.