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Shami on his match-winning WC hat-trick against Afghanistan

April 16, 2020 11:12 IST

Mohammed Shami celebrates the wicket of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, to complete his hat-trick and give India a last-over victory over Afghanistan at The Hampshire Bowl at the ICC World Cup on June 23, 2019

IMAGE: Mohammed Shami celebrates the wicket of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, to complete his hat-trick and give India a last-over victory over Afghanistan at The Hampshire Bowl at the ICC World Cup on June 23, 2019. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty Images

Recalling his memories of taking the World Cup hat-trick against Afghanistan in 2019, India pacer Mohammed Shami said he was only thinking about the wickets at that time.

Shami was speaking to former cricketer Irfan Pathan on an Instagram live session where both discussed a range of topics.

Shami had bowled the last over and took a hat-trick while giving away only four runs. Afghanistan required 16 runs in the last over but were all out at 213 and India registered 11 runs victory.

 

"I was only thinking about the three stumps. I was clear that I will bowl above 140 kmph. My plan was to bowl a yorker after taking two wickets on the consecutive ball and Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) also suggested the same, I did the same and got the hat-trick," Shami said.

"The only thing in my mind while bowling last over is to execute your plans and back your skills. There is not too much option as a bowler, the more you do variation in bowling, chances are high that you will concede runs," he added.

He became the second Indian to take a hat-trick in the 50-over tournament after former pacer Chetan Sharma, who bagged the hat-trick against New Zealand during the 1987 edition.

Shami also revealed that Test cricket is his favourite format of the game due to the intensity involved in it.

When Irfan asked Shami to choose one format he prefers, the speedster picked T20I as the entertaining format while he termed the longest format of the game as his favourite format.

"For entertainment purpose, I would like to choose T20I but I would like to play Test cricket for the intensity of the game," he said.

Source: ANI