India's first hat-trick man Chetan Sharma reckons Thursday's MoM award should have been shared by Virat Kohli and spin sensation Yadav at Eden
Kuldeep Yadav
ADVERTISEMENT
Former India pacer Chetan Sharma, the first Indian to bag a hat-trick in international cricket, has said that chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, who performed a similar feat against Australia in Kolkata on Thursday, should have shared the man of the match award with Virat Kohli.
"I got the man-of-the-match award along with Sunil Gavaskar, who scored his only ODI hundred in the same match (India v New Zealand in the 1987 World Cup at Nagpur). I was happy to share the man-of-the-match award with the legend. Here too, there should have been a joint man-of-the-match award – Kuldeep and Kohli," said Chetan.
"Kohli is scoring runs often but a hat-trick comes once in a while. The last hat-trick by an Indian in ODI cricket was Kapil Dev's which he bagged in 1991 -- 26 years ago," he added.
At the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground in Nagpur, the Kiwis were restricted to 221 for nine with Chetan returning figures of 10-2-51-3. He delivered three different deliveries to clean bowl Ken Rutherford (26), Ian Smith (0) and Ewen Chatfield (0).
India achieved their target in the 33rd over with Gavaskar scoring an 88-ball 103 not out despite running a temperature. K Srikkanth scored 75 while Mohd Azharuddin stayed unbeaten with 41 in the nine-wicket win.
Chetan remembered the little master's encouragement. "Gavaskar advised me to keep my cool. The first wicket I got (Rutherford) was through an off-cutter. The wicket was very slow yet Chatfield was playing with a helmet on. Watching Chatfield, Kapil Dev told me, 'Aare ye to dar se kap raha hai' (he is scared) and I bowled him through his legs."
The Haryana bowler was delighted for India's Thursday hero. "Kuldeep is a match-winner. After bowling his first spell he came back to bag a hat-trick. He did a creditable job as bowlers were finding it difficult to grip the ball. Yet, he forced the batsmen to commit errors," said Chetan.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
