A hat-trick by Mohammed Shami in the last over of the match between Indian and Afghanistan made the win all the more exciting for the former at the ongoing World Cup The Rose Bowl in Southampton on Saturday.
Shami dismissed Mohammad Nabi (52), Aftab Alam (0) and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman(0) off consecutive balls after being hit for a boundary in the first ball, which helped Nabi complete his 13th One-day International half-century, followed by a dot ball. While Nabi, who kept Afghanistan in the hunt as the team needed 16 runs in the final over, was caught in long-on by Hardik Pandya, both Aftab and Mujeeb were bowled out.
With this, the 28-year-old pacer became only the second Indian after Chetan Sharma to claim a hat-trick in a World Cup match.
Shami had replaced injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar in this match.
However, it was Jasprit Bumrah’s double strike in the 29th over that brought India back into the match after an average performance by their batsmen, who post 224 for 8 with help of Virat Kohli’s 67 and Kedar Jadhav’s 52. Bumrah was adjudged the Man of the Match.
Afghanistan gave India a real scare as their batsmen fought till the end after a good partnership between Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi to keep Afghanistan in the chase. However, India held their nerves better and stopped Afghanistan from pulling off one of the greatest World Cup upsets.
