Who was the first bowler to claim a hat-trick in the World Cup? (12 September 2001)
It happened in a match officiated by Dickie Bird and David Shepherd, probably the two most revered umpires the world has ever seen. Even otherwise there was no disputing the decisions. For New Zealanders Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewan Chatfield were all bowled by three successive deliveries from Haryana tearaway Chetan Sharma. It incidentally was also the first hat-trick by an Indian player in one-dayers. The preliminary Reliance Cup match played on October 31, 1987 which saw Sharma accomplish the feat was also made memorable by a little man from Mumbai.
Sunny Gavaskar, playing with a high fever, made his first and only one-day hundred in his farewell tournament. It was for this that the little master shared the Man of the Match award with Chetan Sharma after India won the match by nine wickets.
Subsequently, Pakistan's ace off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq became the second person to register a World Cup hat-trick while playing against Zimbabwe at the Kennington Oval in 1999.
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