Kuldeep Yadav took a hattrick against Australia in the second ODI at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. After the match everyone expected him to win the ‘Man of the Match’ award but skipper Virat Kohli eventually got it for his knock of 92 which got India to a respectable score in the first innings. Kuldeep received an award but it was not the ‘Man of the Match’. Taking a hattrick is not an everyday affair, they are one of the rare elements in cricket and that’s why India’s first hattrick taker Chetan Sharma raised his voice that Kohli could have shared the award with young Chinaman bowler who bagged the second hattrick of his career, the first one being against Scotland in Under-19 World Cup 2014.
Chetan became the first Indian to take a hattrick in ODIs 30 years ago against New Zealand and that too in 1987 World Cup. He shared a few thoughts of why Kuldeep deserved to share the award with Kohli.
What Chetan Sharma had to say-
“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,” claimed Chetan according to Mid-Day.
“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,” justified the former Haryana bowler. “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,” Chetan lauded Kuldeep’s effort.
Here’s the video of Chetan’s hattrick-
There have been instances where the seniors have given the ‘Man of the Match; award to the youngsters in order to boost their morale. Chetan’s viewpoint is considerable as Kuldeep made an impressive comeback and turned the match single-handedly in a single over.
