On Friday, Kings XI Punjab fast bowler Sandeep Sharma achieved a rare feat when he became the first bowler to dismiss Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the same match.
The 23-year-old gave an exhibition of controlled swing bowling to dismiss the “Big Three” Gayle (0), Kohli (6) and De Villiers (10) cheaply.
After the team’s win by 19 runs, Sandeep revealed that he had actually thought about taking the wickets of Gayle, Kohli and De Villiers before the game.
“Felt very good after taking three wickets and winning the man-of-the-match. I was thinking before the match that if I could get Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli out, it will be so amazing. Everybody will talk about it. So whatever I was thinking, it came out to be true and I am very for that,” Sandeep said in an interview to iplt20.com.
Lauding Sandeep for his magnificent feat, Kings XI Punjab co-owner and Bollywood actress Preity Zinta said Sandeep had promised taking four wickets in the match in lieu of tickets for his family.
“He had asked me (for) a couple of tickets for his family but he asked me very late. I hardly had any tickets on me and hence asked him what would he give me in return,” Preity said while the fast bowler added he had promised three wickets.
“Well he had said four but…,” the Bollywood beauty added as the trio burst into laughter.
Axar Patel, who has been playing a handy role for his team this season, said that it was Virender Sehwag who had asked him to hold the fort till the very end while going for the shots.
“During the strategic time-out in the 16th over, Viru sir had asked me to play till the end stating that if a batsman stayed at one end it would have helped our cause.
“And the manner in which the pitch was behaving, even 140 wouldn’t be an easy chase and that was the only objective in my mind, to guide the team to that score,” he said.
