Kuldeep Yadav claims hattrick as India go 2-0 up against Australia in Kolkata
Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav became only the third Indian to take a hat-trick as the hosts demolished Australia by 50 runs in the second ODI on Thursday, continuing their dominating run over the listless visitors.
Chasing 253 on a tricky surface, Australia once again had no answer to the guile of wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (2/34) and chinaman Yadav (3/54), who struck at crucial junctures to bundle out the opposition for 202 in 43.1 overs.
With this memorable feat, Yadav joined Kapil Dev (1991) and Chetan Sharma (1987) in a select club of Indians who have picked up a hat-trick. The victory was also India’s eighth in a row in ODIs. India’s sensational bowling performance came after captain Virat Kohli made a fluent 92 to take the hosts to 252 with opener Ajinkya Rahane scoring 55 at the top of the order.
Australia, who surrendered to the Indian spinners in Chennai, seemed equally helpless here with seven batsmen recording single digit scores.
Everytime Australia tried to make their way back into the game, Indian spinners responded with a breakthrough, carrying on from the good work done by pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/9) in the early overs. The Aussie openers looked clueless against the swing of Bhuvaneshwar who gave away just 9 runs in his first 6 overs.
For the record this was the first time in 30 years that Eden Gardens hosted an India- Australia ODI Match.
