Spinner Kuldeep Yadav became India’s first bowler to claim two international hat-tricks on Wednesday after striking three times on successive balls in the second one-day international against West Indies.
The left-arm wrist spinner sent back Shai Hope (78), Jason Holder (11) and Alzarri Joseph (0) on the final three deliveries of his eighth over in Visakhapatnam to record his second ODI hat-trick.
He claimed his first against Australia at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in 2017 to join India’s ODI hat-trick club that includes Chetan Sharma, Kapil Dev and Mohammed Shami.
However no Indian bowler had taken more than one hat-trick across formats.
Yadav also joins international bowlers Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka), Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan) and Trent Boult (New Zealand) to pick up more than one hat-trick in ODIs.
While Malinga leads the list with three ODI hat-tricks, all the others have picked up two in the 50-over format.
The 25-year-old Yadav, who also has a hat-trick for India in under-19 cricket, has taken 99 wickets in 55 ODI matches since his debut in 2017. He achieved the feat in his eighth over with skipper Virat Kohli starting the proceedings with a stunning catch at deep mid-wicket, which sent opener Hope (78) back to the pavilion.
Holder was next in line as he was deceived in flight and Rishabh Pant whipped off the bails in time.
Alzarri then failed to pick up a wrong’un and was caught by Kedar Jadhav as his teammates celebrated.
Watch the hat-trick here:
(Video courtesy: BCCI.tv)