Kuldeep Yadav stole the limelight during the second ODI against Australia by becoming only the third Indian to pick up a hat-trick in One-day Internationals. He joined Kapil Dev (1991) and Chetan Sharma (1987) in a select club of Indians who have picked up a hat-trick.
After a lackluster start to his spell, Yadav joined the party by sending back Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins in as many balls to send the Eden Gardens crowd into a frenzy. It was not the first time that Yadav took a hat-trick for his country. He had become the first Indian to take a hat-trick in the U-19 World Cup, achieving the feat against Scotland in the 2014 edition.
This was not the first time a young spinner took a hat-trick against the Australians at Eden Gardens. Remember Harbhajan Singh in 2001? Incidentally, hat-tricks in cricket are not that rare anymore and it’s coincided with the boom of Twenty20 cricket.
Here’s the data that shows that:
Doesn’t make it any less special though.