India in U-19 Cricket World Cup Quarters

Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav became the first Indian bowler to grab a hat-trick in the under-19 cricket World Cup before the defending champions entered the quarterfinals with a patchy five-wicket win over Scotland in their low-scoring Group A match here on Monday.

Yadav’s hat-trick was the highlight of a superb bowling effort by the Indians before they survived a collapse of their own to finish at 92 for five in 22.3 overs. The Indians are on top in their group with two wins out of two and just one match to go.

On a pitch, which seemed to be loaded in favour of the bowlers, Scotland won the toss and opted to bat. The decision backfired as the Indian bowlers wrecked havoc.

Opener Andrew Umeed scored half the side’s runs with a 77-ball 44 before the rest capitulated miserably.

Gavin Main was the only other Scottish batsman to touch the double-figure mark with a 22-ball 16. Kuldeep and Aamir Gani were the pick of Indian bowlers with four wickets apiece. But Kuldeep shone brighter with his historic feat, which came in the 19th and 21st over.

Nick Farrar (0), Kyle Stirling (0) and Alex Baum (5) were the batsmen to fall to Kuldeep in the spectacular spell. The tweaker had Farrar caught by Deepak Hooda at square leg, before trapping Stirling LBW off his last delivery in the 19th over.

Kuldeep completed the hat-trick in the 21st over when he crashed through the stumps of Baum to notch up a historic feat. His 10 overs, including a maiden, yielded merely 28 runs in the final analysis. He was brilliantly backed by off-spinner Gani.