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Axar Patel shared his emotions on Rohit Sharma dropping his hat-trick chance on his Champions Trophy debut.
Axar Patel (R) and Rohit Sharma (C). (AP Photo)
Indian spinner Axar Patel spoke about his roller-coaster emotions of taking two back-to-back wickets and then seeing Rohit Sharma drop the hat-trick chance on his Champions Trophy debut against Bangladesh in Dubai.
With Bangladesh already three down, Patel was brought into the attack in the ninth over. He got Tanzid Hasan off a thin edge to the keeper, KL Rahul on the second ball. The umpire gave it out after Rahul’s celebrations but Patel didn’t react, only to see Hasan walk and then the big screen to show deflection on replay.
Mushfiqur Rahim got out edging the next ball behind Rahul, with a much clearer noise on it this time. On the third, Jaker Ali got a thicker edge to Rohit at first slip, which the skipper dropped despite getting in the perfect position and putting both hands to it. Patel said he was celebrating before seeing Rohit beating the ground in frustration. Jaker went on to score 68 (114) in a first-innings score of 228.
“Bohot kuch ho gaya, (A lot happened)” Patel said in the mid-innings break, as quoted by Cricbuzz. “Didn’t know if it (Hasan’s wicket) was out, but KL appealed and it was out. Then I go to the second wicket. The third one, when the edge was found, I thought I got my hat-trick. It was an eventful over. I started to celebrate and then I saw it (Rohit dropping the catch). I didn’t react and just came back. It’s part of the game. The wicket got easier to bat and I think it’s an easy total to chase. It’s a slow wicket and as the ball gets older, it gets easier to bat. Second innings, it’ll continue to remain slow. My role is to contribute whenever my team needs it. Happy that the team trusts me a lot.”
Patel missed the chance to become the first Indian to take a hat-trick in the Champions Trophy.
Jaker got out to Mohammed Shami’s bowling later on to award the pacer his record 200th ODI wicket. He was caught by Virat Kohli, who equaled Mohammad Azharuddin’s record for most catches for India in ODIs.
