Recalling his hat-trick ball against Afghanistan at the 2019 World Cup, India pacer Mohammed Shami said that he was looking to bowl a yorker in a bid to get a third consecutive wicket.
As planned, Shami delivered the hat-trick ball right into the blockhole of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who couldn’t get the bat down in time and could only see the stumps getting rattled.
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With this, Shami became only the second Indian bowler to claim a hat-trick at the quadrennial event. He succeeded Chetan Sharma who had achieved the feat against New Zealand in 1987.
In a nail-biting match at the 2019 World Cup, Afghanistan were chasing 225 runs in 50 overs and needed 16 runs in the last over. But Shami’s brilliance won India the match by bundling out the opponents at 213. The pacer took a hat-trick while giving away only four runs in the last over.
“I was only thinking about the three stumps. I was clear that I will bowl above 140 kmph. My plan was to bowl 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 hattrick,” Shami said to Irfan Pathan on Instagram live as quoted by ANI.
“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.