Jaydev Unadkat's historic first-over Ranji Trophy hat-trick wrecks Delhi

The left-arm pacer finished with a career-best eight-wicket haul in Rajkot; Rajat Patidar revived holders Madhya Pradesh with a century against Vidarbha on Day 1 in the Elite division.

Saurashtra's Jaydev Unadkat made a slice of Ranji Trophy history on Tuesday, becoming the first bowler to take a hat-trick in the opening over. The left-arm pacer destroyed Delhi by adding two more in the next over in a career-best eight-wicket haul as the visitors were bundled out for 133 on Day 1 of the Elite Group B match in Rajkot.

Jaydev Unadkat destroyed Delhi's top order(Getty)

Unadkat, playing in his 98th first-class match was playing in his first Ranji game of the season, having recently made his Test return in Bangladesh following a 12-year wait. No one had managed a first-over hat-trick in the 89-year history of the premier domestic competition. The previous record of the fastest Ranji hat-trick belonged to Karnataka pacer Vinay Kumar, who achieved the feat in the 2017-18 quarter-final against Mumbai. Kumar's effort was spread across the first and third overs of the match.

Unadkat began the damage by bowling an in-form Dhruv Shorey, the leading run-scorer in this year's competition (579), off the third ball of the morning, following it up with the wickets of Vaibhav Rawal and skipper Yash Dhull. Rawal was caught behind by wicketkeeper Harvik Desai—he later cracked an unbeaten 104 - and Dhull was trapped leg before.

Unadkat then ran through Delhi's middle order to finish with 8/39. Had it not been for No 9 Hrithik Shokeen's undefeated 68 and No 10 Shivank Vashisht's 38, Delhi would have struggled to reach three figures. The duo came together with Delhi reeling at 53/8 and added 80 runs in 20.4 overs. Eight Delhi batters failed to reach double figures with extras (7) being the fourth highest contributor.

Saurashtra ended the day in command, leading by 51 runs with nine wickets in hand.

A domestic warhorse, Unadkat, 31, has toiled in the circuit for over 12 years now. He made his Test debut against South Africa back in Centurion in 2010 as a wiry teenager. It was a trial by fire for the left-arm pacer, who went wicketless in his 26 overs while conceding 101 runs.

Unadkat though kept proving himself in domestic cricket for Saurashtra, amassing 356 first-class wickets. Nine of his teammates from his debut Test in South Africa are retired while the other, fellow pacer Ishant Sharma, last played a Test in November, 2021.

An unexpected Test call-up arrived last month for the two-Test series against Bangladesh as an injury replacement for Mohammed Shami. Unadkat missed the first Test in Chattogram due to visa issues but played the Mirpur Test, taking three wickets in India's win for a 2-0 series sweep.

Early in December, he led Saurashtra to the title in Vijay Hazare Trophy—the domestic 50-over event—with the highest wickets tally (19). He also starred in Saurashtra's maiden Ranji Trophy win in 2019-20, finishing as the competition's leading wicket-taker (that season.

Patidar hits ton

In Indore, Rajat Patidar's 121 lifted holders Madhya Pradesh to 234/6 after Vidarbha had reduced them to 102/5. Walking in at 11/3, Patidar added 74 runs with skipper Aditya Shrivastava and 126 runs with Saransh Jain, who was unbeaten on 45.

Brief scores (select matches)

In Rajkot: Delhi 133 (H Shokeen 68*; J Unadkat 8/39) vs Saurashtra 184/1 (H Desai 104*)

In Indore: MP 234/6 (R Patidar 121) vs Vidarbha

In Mumbai: TN 144 (PR Paul 55; T Deshpande 5/37) vs Mumbai 183/6 (S Khan 46*)

In Valsad: Punjab 276/7 (N Wadhera 120) vs Gujarat