Cricket World Cup History: India’s golden moments in the World Cup

#4 Chetan Sharma’s hat-trick in 1987

Chetan Sharma did pretty well for India with the ball

Chetan Sharma was always an interesting character on the field. A tiny, bearded, dynamo of a paceman, he could surprise batsmen with his deceptive speed, no mean feat for a man of such slight build. He was not the one to hide his emotions either, and his theatrical, strident and shrill appeals were invariably the cause for mirth among the spectators.

Thus when a man like Chetan Sharma achieves a hat-trick, and that too in the World Cup before a capacity home crowd, the scene can well be imagined. The crowd went berserk as Sharma lay spread-eagled on his back in sheer ecstasy. His teammates ran towards him in a mixture of disbelief, jubilation, and amusement, a magic moment in Indian cricket.

With New Zealand on 182 for five, there was no hint of the drama and excitement to follow. Chetan Sharma clean bowled Ken Rutherford off the fourth delivery of his 6th over. Wicketkeeper Ian Smith came in, and Sharma went through his defence too, the first ball. Celebrations gave way to a buzz of anticipation as Ewan Chatfield took Smith's place. Kapil Dev called in his field. Sharma steamed in and let go, and amazingly, Chatfield missed. The ball crashed into his stumps.

The zippy little paceman Chetan Sharma grabbed the first hat-trick in the World Cup.

The noise was deafening. Chetan Sharma had taken a hat-trick, and all clean bowled. In that match, Sunil Gavaskar reached his maiden One-day century off 85 deliveries. It was to be his only one in what turned out to be the penultimate match of his career. India marched into the semi-finals.