Two hat-tricks, one stadium: 16 years later, Kuldeep Yadav does a Harbhajan Singh at Eden Gardens

Kuldeep Yadav and Harbhajan Singh have picked up a hattrick at the same venue against Australia.

The iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata has always something special to offer Indian cricket. On Thursday when 22-year-old Kuldeep Yadav spun a web around the Australians and became only the second wrist spinner to register a hat-trick in ODIs, the stadium erupted in joy. Kuldeep almost ran the length of the pitch leaving his teammates behind, who themselves were running around like children celebrating the onset of summer vacation. 16 years ago, similar scenes took place in the famous ground. It was the second Test between India and they were up against the might of the Steve Waugh-led Australia. A 21-year-old off-spinner, who was just making his mark in international cricket, stepped up and stunned the team that was known as ‘The Invincibles’ with a maiden hat-trick at the Eden Gardens.

It was in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that India came back from a follow-on, courtesy of a very very special inning of 281 from VVS Laxman. But it was Harbhajan Singh who grabbed all the limelight as he grabbed a stunning hat-trick to guide India to a famous win. But this not where India’s tryst with the Eden Gardens, the legendary Kapil Dev also picked up his hat-trick at the same venue in 1991.

A hat-trick for @imkuldeep18. He becomes the third Indian to achieve this feat, after Kapil Dev and Chetan Sharma #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/1VNgiDUvzj

— BCCI (@BCCI) 21 September 2017

With the hat-trick on Thursday, Kuldeep became only the third Indian bowler, after Chetan Sharma and Kapil Dev, to register a hat-trick in an ODI. Interestingly, Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga & India’s Kuldeep Yadav are the only wrist-spinners to take a hat-trick in one-day internationals. It all happened in the 33rd over, when Yadav first dismissed Mathew Wade. He then got Ashton Agar lbw after which he bamboozled Pat Cummins with a googly.

Flashback to 2001, in the second Test at Kolkata a relatively young 20-year-old Harbhajan endured a similar moment when he dismissed Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, and Shane Warne in the first innings of the famous Test. He later went on to claim six more wickets in the second innings to help India register a famous win.

After Kuldeep’s feat on Thursday, Harbhajan Singh was among the first to congratulate Kuldeep. “Congratulations @imkuldeep18 on your terrific achievement at the special venue #EdenGardens always have something special to offer #Hattric”, he wrote on Twitter. For team India and its fans, they will hope that famous ground keeps giving such occasions to celebrate.