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

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 rival Delhi in a disarray on Tuesday.

Delhi, which lost 7 wickets for just 10 runs, didn’t face the ignominy of getting bowled out for the 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 not out), it finally managed 133 before Saurashtra scored 184 in just 46 overs as the visitor decided to play with two specialist bowlers.

Unadkat took wickets off the third, fourth and fifth deliveries to achieve the distinction of becoming the only player to take a first-over hat-trick in Ranji Trophy’s 88-year-old history.

The previous quickest Ranji hat-trick, a split one, is in the name of Karnataka’s Vinay Kumar who achieved the feat over two overs -- first and third.

Unadkat’s hat-trick victims included opener Dhruv Shorey, Vaibhav Rawal and young Delhi captain Yash Dhull, all of whom departed for duck.

Badoni, Rawal and even Dhull don’t have the wherewithal to face Unadkat on a slightly damp wicket and they had no clue which one was leaving them, which one came back in and the trademark one which skids straight after pitching.

And by the time he was done with his second over, the 31-year-old Unadkat had added two more scalps to accomplish his 21st five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.

Unadkat continued to wreak havoc, finishing with career-best figures of 8/39 in his 12 overs on Tuesday.

Brief scores: Delhi 133 in 35 overs (H Shokeen 68*, J Unadkat 8/39) vs Saurashtra 184/1 in 46 overs (H Desai 104 batting, C Jani 44 not out)

TN batting comes a cropper

In Group B of the Ranji Trophy, host Mumbai bowled out Tamil Nadu for 144 at the Brabourne Stadium with Tushar Deshpande taking five for 37 and Shams Mulani chipping in with three for 33. For TN, Pradosh Ranjan Paul scored 55 (75b, 9x4). In reply, Mumbai scored 183 for six.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 144 in 36.2 overs (PR Paul 55, T Deshpande 5/37, S Mulani 3/33) vs Mumbai 183/6 in 41 overs (S Khan 46 batting, A Rahane 42, A Crist 3/32)