Why an IPL hat-trick was simply child's play

Pune paceman Jaydev Unadkat had one man to thank for his match-winning final-over hat-trick against Sunrisers Hyderabad last Saturday.

Well, one child named Omkar Pawar, to be more accurate.

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Unadkat was one of several Supergiant players – including overseas stars Steve Smith and Faf du Plessis – to visit the APSS school in Pune on April 28 for a meet-and-greet with students.

There he met 12-year-old Omkar, who wasn't backward in coming forward in sharing his advice with the left-arm quick, including – incredibly – some suggestions about exactly how to "get a hat-trick".

Unadkat shared the meeting on Instagram, relaying the moment to his social media followers: "So here's the bowling advice I got that led to the hat-trick yesterday," he wrote. "Thanks to the little one!!" 

Those tips involved bowling cross-seam deliveries, and it appeared Unadkat did exactly that a little over a week later during a devastating display of bowling that won the match for Pune.

In all, he took five wickets in seven balls, including a triple-wicket maiden in the final over of the match; an over Sunrisers had entered needing 13 to win with four wickets in hand.

All three deliveries in the hat-trick were slower balls, with the bowler cleverly employing his impressive repertoire of cutters to deceive the Hyderabad lower order.

Unadkat has raced to 100 IPL wickets and has 17 scalps in just eight matches this season. He's only one behind Pune's leading wicket-taker, South African Imran Tahir, who has played four more matches.

And while the 25-year-old readily acknowledged he, like every other T20 bowler, has had his forgettable days as well – most recently against Kolkata last week, during which he was spanked for 21 off a single over – he says changes of pace have been a valuable weapon in his developing armoury.

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"To bowl those cutters is something that has been working for me," Unadkat told IPLT20.com.

"I have been hit for some runs in the last game and some other games as well.

"But, as we talked in the meeting as well, just sticking to those plans and just doing what I am good at, bowling to my strengths has been working well.

"It's crazy. To go for some 20-21 runs (from one over) in the last match, and to then come out here and defend 13 runs is something special."