His time is passing like a dream. The 2021 Salta has been a great year for Pakistan cricket, with the team having great success in all three editions. Shahin Shah Afridi is the biggest contributor behind that success. Last week, Afridi also won the ICC Cricketer of the Year award in 2021, shining in all three editions, whether Test, ODI or T20.
That Afridi has a dream. Dream of a great hat trick. And three famous Indian batsmen are involved in that dream hat-trick of Pakistan's left-arm fast bowler. Afridi himself revealed the names of the three batsmen in an interview with cricket website Cricinfo.
Last week, Cricinfo hosted a different kind of interview with Shaheen, who won the ICC Player of the Year award. Interviews for 25 questions. There was a question, which batsman would Shahin want to get the wicket of his dream hat-trick?
The 21-year-old Pakistani left-arm pacer's answer may come as a bit of a surprise. He named three Indian batsmen in the North. From one point of view, Afridi has named the top three Indian batsmen at the moment — Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Lokesh Rahul. Interestingly, Shaheen knows what it feels like to have three wickets in the same match. The only difference is that Shahin did not get three wickets in a row.
It may not take long to figure out which match is being talked about. India and Pakistan met in their first match of the T20 World Cup in Sharjah last October. But Kohli fell in front of Afridi's cannon at the beginning after batting first.
In his first seven balls and 13 balls of the innings, Shahin picked up the wickets of India's two opening batsmen Rahul and Rohit. Later, he also picked up the wicket of Kohli, who hit a half-century.
In the end Shahin took 3 wickets for 31 runs in 4 overs. That is what laid the foundation for Pakistan's victory. India managed to score 151 runs for 6 wickets in 20 overs. In reply, two opening batsmen — captain Babar Azam and wicketkeeper-batsman Rizwan ব্যা reached the target with ten wickets in hand. Pakistan have beaten India 13 times in the ODI and T20 World Cups.
Shaheen has kept these three in the dream hat-trick, perhaps because of his three victims in the history-making match. Of these three, Kohli's wicket may be the hat-trick that Shaheen would like to get, that wicket is something special to him. Which is the best wicket of his career so far শাহ it didn't take long for Shaheen to answer this question on Cricinfo, 'Virat Kohli!'
In the 2022 T20 World Cup to be held in Australia, Shahin Afridi will get a chance to get that dream hat trick. India and Pakistan are in the same group in the 2022 World Cup as in the last World Cup. Like last time, the two arch-rivals will face each other in their first match of the tournament. An extra attraction has now been created for that match which is going to be held on 23rd October in MCG.
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