New Delhi: Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav stole the limelight in the second ODI against Australia on Thursday, becoming only the third Indian to register a hat-trick in the 50-over format of the game.
The 22-year-old removed Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins off three consecutive deliveries at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata to join Kapil Dev (1991) and Chetan Sharma (1987) in an elite club of Indians who have claimed a hat-trick.
Incidentally, Kapil’s hat-trick was the only ODI hat-trick at the Eden until Kuldeep joined him on Thursday.
However, it was not the first time that he registered a hat-trick for the country.
Kuldeep became the first Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in Under-19 World Cup history and in the process, sent Scotland Under-19s crashing to 88 all out in Dubai.
Kuldeep’s mystery element claimed the wickets of Nick Farrar, Kyle Stirling and Alex Baum in three successive balls spread out over two overs.
Watch it here:
He’s just taken his first ODI hat-trick in Kolkata, but it’s not the first one @imkuldeep18 has celebrated in an India shirt… pic.twitter.com/26ioVfdxCQ
— ICC (@ICC) September 21, 2017
Kuldeep played only his ninth ODI and with MS Dhoni’s tactical help from behind the stumps, the young leg-spinner showed his variety and completely derailed Australia’s chase of 253.
India rode on a 92 by skipper Virat Kohli and a 55 by Ajinkya Rhane to post a competitive 252 on the board for the Aussies and followed it up with a brilliant bowling display by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya and, of course, Kuldeep.
Source: Zee News