Ken Rutherford

It was a trip down memory lane for several cricketers as they gathered to celebrate the silver jubilee of Chetan Sharma’s hat-trick in the 1987 World Cup.

This day, 34 years ago, India's Chetan Sharma scripted history by becoming the first bowler to take a World Cup hat-trick. This was also the first instance of an Indian taking a hat-trick in any format of the game.

Chetan Sharma, who started white-ball cricket here in 1978-79 with a hockey orb and then claimed the first World Cup hat-trick with a red cherry returns to the Sector-16 Stadium as BCCI's chief selector, still aspiring to become a Kapil Dev.

"I feel as the tour progresses, you would see New Zealand batsmen playing the spinners better. The more we play in these conditions, the better we will be able to handle it (spin)," former New Zealand skipper Ken Rutherford said.

New Zealand's 'Class of 92' may not have won the World Cup, but they were the in-form team of that tournament defeating teams after another before losing to Imran Khan's Pakistan.

Ken Rutherford spoke about the technique to be employed for success on Indian wickets, Kane Williamson's leadership skills and more.

Chetan Sharma, the first Indian bowler to achieve a hat-trick in a World Cup, accomplished this historic feat on October 31, 1987, against New Zealand. His brilliant performance restricted New Zealand to 221/9, enabling India to secure a comfortable nine-wicket victory with strong batting from Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth.

Among the best stands Bishan Singh Bedi's tightest spell ever: 12-8-6-1 against East Africa in 1975. And among the worst is when Sunil Gavaskar crawled his way to 36 not out in 60 overs against England in 1975. He played 174 balls. Then there is India’s batting average in all WC games (from 1975) of 32.6, and bowling average of 29.0.

Indian cricket has seen nine historic hat-tricks across formats. Harbhajan Singh took the first Test hat-trick against Australia in 2001. Chetan Sharma achieved the first ODI hat-trick versus New Zealand in 1987. Deepak Chahar became the first Indian to claim a T20I hat-trick against Bangladesh in 2019.

Twenty-eight years to the day, Chetan Sharma took the first World Cup hat-trick against New Zealand at Nagpur.

New Zealand is a team that has always flattered to deceive. Over the years they have always come across as a very good fielding unit bolstered by some great individual talents, but never a world-beating force.

Chetan Sharma was the first man to claim a hat-trick in the World Cup during the 1987 edition of the tournament. The former pacer has now backed the so far undefeated Team India to win the title for the third time.

When Mohammed Shami completed a famous hat-trick to win India their game against Afghanistan on Saturday, he became the second Indian after Chetan Sharma to achieve the feat in a World Cup.

A lowdown on the venue for the second ODI between India and New Zealand on October 20.

Former India pacer Chetan Sharma was the first to take a World Cup hat-trick when he destroyed the New Zealand line-up in 1987. Here's a quick recap of the World Cup hat-tricks so far and the bowlers whose names have been etched in history as a result of their feats in the mega event.