Nagpur, Nov 22
Although Vidarbha faced a four-run defeat at the hands of Karnataka in the semi-final of Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20 Trophy two days back at New Delhi, pacer Darshan Nalkande hogged the limelight by claiming consecutive four wickets in one over and became the second Indian bowler to achieve the feat. However, the narrow loss in the knockout match has subdued the celebrations.
Nalkande, who came on to complete his spell in the final over dismissed Aniruddha Josih on the 2nd ball of the over. He dismissed Sharath BR on the 3rd delivery and completed his hat-trick with the big wicket of J Suchtih on the 4th delivery of the over. On the 5th delivery, Nalkande dismissed in-form Abhinav Manohar to become only the 2nd Indian bowler to take a double hat-trick.
Former India pacer Abhimanyu Mithun was the first bowler to achieve this milestone. In fact, he had dismissed 5 batsmen in a single over while playing for Karnataka against Haryana in 2019.
Talking to Lokmat Times about his hat-trick Nalkande who has been with Punjab Kings for last three years said, “I had never thought about hat-trick. I just followed the process and execute the plans. I think more than personal record, teams victory was needed. It would have been great had the team won the match and entered the final but we fell short of some runs. My hat-trick would have got more value had we managed to win the crucial match”, he said.
At the highest level, Lasith Malinga had achieved this milestone in 2019 T20 international match against New Zealand while Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan bagged this feat against Ireland in the same year.
Although Nalkande has been with Punjab kings for the last three seasons he has so far not got an opportunity to make an IPL debut. Asked about it he said, “ My job is to perform and I am doing that with Vidarbha team for the last three years. I don't know whether I will get an opportunity to play for my IPL franchise.”
Nalkande said although he has not played any IPL match, he got valuable experience by sharing the dressing room with great players. “ I have benefited a lot by sharing the dressing room with great players from all over the world. I have a good bonding with them and learned a lot from them. That ultimately helped me in domestic cricket”, he said.
Nalkande was of the opinion that ahead of IPL mega auction several Vidarbha players have caught the attention of IPL franchises by performing well in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.