India’s first World Cup hat-trick man Chetan Sharma lauds Mohammed Shami’s feat

Chetan Sharma

Bhubaneswar: He was the first Indian bowler to register a hat-trick in the World Cup cricket tournament. Thirty two years have elapsed, but Chetan Sharma still vividly remembers the wickets that he took – Ken Rutherford, Ian Smit and Ewan Chatfield – during the India-New Zealand game at Nagpur in 1987. It was the same game where Sunil Gavaskar got his only ODI century.

However, Sharma who was present in a TV show during the tense moments of the India-Afghanistan World Cup game Saturday said Sunday that he had a gut feeling about Mohammed Shami’s hat-trick. “He was bowling to the No.11 batsman and Shami is good at bowling yorkers, so I had a feeling that the hat-trick is coming,” said Sharma. “No doubt he is a special bowler,” added the former India pacer.

Sharma said that in the last one year, Shami has worked hard on his bowling and improved manifold. “Most importantly his accuracy has improved and he has added a couple of yards to his pace. Another important factor is that Shami bowls with a ‘straight seam’ position which helps him control his swing,” Sharma pointed out.

Mohammed Shami

Sharma, however, is disappointed that Shami was not presented with the man of the match award which instead went to Jasprit Bumrah. “The adjudicators could have opted for a joint man of the match award. Shami’s feat is really laudable… after all rarely do you see a hat-trick in cricket. It doesn’t happen as frequently as batsmen score hundreds,” opined Sharma.

Reminiscing about his hat-trick, Sharma said that when he dismissed Rutherford in the New Zealand game, the thought of registering a hat-trick was never on his mind. “The first was relief, ‘finally I have got a wicket’ and it was a great feeling,” informed Sharma. The next ball when I bowled Smith, I still did not think of a hat-trick. As I was about to bowl the next delivery Kapil Dev (the skipper then) came and told me ‘just bowl on the stumps’. The rest is all history,” added Sharma.

The former India pacer, however, was quick to point out that the importance of Shami’s hat-trick far outweighed his achievement. “The wickets Shami took came at a crucial time. Mohammad Nabi was batting well and could have taken the match away from India. So in this context, the wickets were very crucial. I got mine when India were bowling first,” informed Sharma.

As of now, Sharma has just one line to say to Shami. “Welcome to the World Cup hat-trick club.”

World Cup hat-trick club

Chetan Sharma           New Zealand               Nagpur                                    1987

Saqlain Mushtaq         Zimbabwe                   London                                    1999

Chaminda Vaas           Bangladesh                 Peitermaritzburg                      2003

Brett Lee                     Kenya                          Durban                                      2003

Lasith Malinga           South Africa                Province                                     2007

Kemar Roach              The Netherlands         New Delhi                                 2011

Lasith Malinga            Kenya                          Colombo                                  2011

Steven Finn                  Australia                      Melbourne                              2015

JP Duminy                   Sri Lanka                     Sydney                                      2015

Mohammed Shami     Afghanistan                 Southampton                           2019

 

PNN

 

 

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