The 3 Golden Deliveries by Chetan Sharma

Chetan Sharma was the first bowler to pick up a hattrick in World Cup. He achieved this feet against New Zealand in 1987 World Cup. He bowled Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield with the last three balls of his sixth over.

...And Chetan Sharma took the hattrick (The Background)

New Zealand were looking strong with 182 for 5 in 41 overs when skipper Kapil Dev asked Sharma to bowl his sixth over. Rutherford was at the crease and the big-hitting Smith and Martin Snedden to follow. The set batsman Rutherford played the first three deliveries cautiously, but failed to read an off-cutter which took his middle stump. Next to go was Smith whose off-stump was removed. Crowd goes mad and excitement was at its peak.

Before bowling the last delivery, Sharma had a word with his captain, Kapil Dev. Sharma ran in to bowl a historical ball - a fuller delivery and Chatfiled leg stump was hit. Chetan's hattrick restricted New Zealand to 221. India comfortably won the match by 9 wickets.

This hat-trick was also special as Sharma managed to hit the stumps in all three occasions. The three golden deliveries created the history and the bowler till day is remembered for this historical feat.

Remembering on his milestone, the former India pace bowler in an interview gave credit to Kapil and Sunil Gavaskar for boosting his confidence. He said, “Honestly, It was Kapil paa and Sunny bhai who deserved the credit. After two wickets, they rushed to me and told me not to think of the hat-trick. They just asked me to bowl straight. They told me just be yourself and forget everything at the moment. I followed their instructions."

 

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Sahir