Unadkat makes history by taking first-over Ranji hat-trick vs Delhi

Rajkot: Jaydev Unadkat, fresh from his fine bowling performance in the second Test against Bangladesh at Mirpur, returned to the Ranji grind and made a smashing impact, grabbing a hat-trick in the first over to leave Group B rivals Delhi in a disarray on Tuesday.
Delhi, who lost 7 wickets for just 10 runs, didn’t face ignominy of lowest first-class score of 6 by a team called ‘The B’s’ against England in an official match held in 1810.Courtesy young Hrithik Shokeen (68), they finally managed 133 before Saurashtra scored 184 in just 46 overs as the visitors decided to play with two specialist bowlers.It was a historic feat as Unadkat became the first-ever bowler in the history of the Ranji Trophy to bag a hat-trick in the first over of a match. The left-arm seamer didn’t stop there and continued wreaking havoc with the red cherry as Delhi’s batting line-up crumbled under pressure after losing the top order cheaply.
Unadkat went on to bag an eight-wicket haul and finished with exceptional figures of 8/39 in his 12 overs as Delhi were bundled out for a paltry 133 runs in their first innings. As many as six Delhi batters were sent packing for a duck while two failed to even reach double figures.
Unadkat was the wrecker-in-chief as he dismissed Jonty Sidhu, Lalit Yadav, Lakshay Thareja, Shivank Vashist and Kuldip Yadav after claiming his hat-trick to pile more misery on Delhi. Unadkat’s eight-wicket haul became his career-best figures in Ranji Trophy with his previous best being 7/41.