The year was 1987 and it was the first time India was going into the tournament as defending champions. One of the most iconic matches during the tournament was the India vs New Zealand match. One of the most iconic matches was on the 31st of October when Chetan Sharma took the first Hattrick in ODI World Cups at Nagpur which will be remembered for generations.
There were a lot of great performances for the Indian team in the 1987 World Cup which was once again led by Haryana Hurricane Kapil Dev. The Indians might have not been able to defend their title at home but it was still a decent campaign where they made it through to the semi-finals and there were some iconic moments in the tournament that we all still look back at.
Chetan Sharma takes the first hattrick in World Cups
The match against New Zealand is known for two iconic innings which are Sunil Gavaskar’s amazing century and Chetan Sharma’s iconic spell. There was a moment in the game where Ken Rutherford and Dipak Patel were taking the Kiwi total to over 240, but Chetan Sharma came back in his 6th over and surprised everyone by taking the first hattrick in ODI World Cup history getting the likes of Rutherford, Ian Smith and Chatfield which was enough to restrict them to just 221 in the end.
This was one of the iconic spells against one of the strongest sides in the tournament. The score was chased down easily by the Indian batters thanks to a magnificent 88-ball hundred by the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. This was one of the most memorable matches all of us should remember where Sharma went on to create history and win the game.
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