World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli spot on with his “raring to go” statement as Mohammed Shami becomes only the second Indian after Chetan Sharma to scalp a hat-trick in the tournament's history

There was a hue and cry by a section of the netizens when Bhuvneshwar Kumar was chosen over Mohammad Shami in India’s first World Cup match against South Africa. While the former justified his place with brilliant performances in the matches against the Proteas and Australia, his hamstring injury against Pakistan disturbed the winning combination. The Uttar Pradesh pacer was replaced by Shami for India’s fifth game of the tournament against Afghanistan on Saturday, and the 29-year-old stepped up to the occasion in style. The speedster stayed true to his captain Virat Kohli’s statement of the bowler ‘raring to go’, by not just helping India win, but even scalping a hat-trick to complete a nail-biting win. 

READ: World Cup 2019: India Pulls A 36-run-victory Over Australia In A Batting-dominated Match, Denying The Team A Hat-trick Win

When Kumar got injured in the last match, captain Kohli had stated that his first-choice player was important, but also asserted that Shami was ‘raring to go’ in the two-three matches that his teammate would be on the sidelines for.  

And on Saturday, Shami brilliantly stayed true to his captain’s words with an outstanding spell of 4/40 in 9.5 overs. 

READ: World Cup 2019 | 'Our Middle Order Is Really Poor': Netizens Disappointed After An Unimpressive Batting Performance By Team India Against Afghanistan

The speedster castled opener Hazratullah Zazai in his first spell where he conceded just 8 runs in 4 overs.  

Shami also returned for a fine spell in the death overs when Mohammad Nabi threatened to win it for the Afghans. Not just did the pacer dismiss the dangerous all-rounder, he also clean bowled the next two tail-enders on the following deliveries to complete a famous hat-trick. 

He also became only the 10th bowler to bag a hat-trick in World Cups, and only the second Indian, 32 years after Chetan Sharma’s feat against New Zealand in the 1987 edition. 

Previously, all the bowlers contributed, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit  Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets apiece while Kuldeep Yadav, though wicketless, was economical conceding 3.9 runs/over in his full quota. 

Earlier in the day, captain Virat Kohli was the only one who was untroubled as he top-scored with 67 off 63 deliveries. Kedar Jadhav was the next best with 52. KL Rahul, MS Dhoni and Vijay Shankar scored laboured knocks of around 30. 

Courtesy the victory, India continue to be unbeaten in the tournament and are now third on the table with 9 points.