Indian pacer Deepak Chahar’s world record T20I figures of 6/7 have earned him an ‘ICC T20I Performance of the Year 2019’ award.
Chahar was at his best with the white ball in a T20I against Bangladesh on November 10, 2019, at Nagpur. He broke the backbone of the visitor’s run-chase as they set out to complete a target of 175 as he scalped three of the first four batsmen.
He set a trap for Liton Das by bowling a good-ish short delivery and placed a fielder at deep mid-wicket. Das went for the big shot and holed out to Sundar on the fence. Soumya Sarkar also tried to attack the pacer and his late swing ensured that the batsman hit the bottom of the bat and ended up giving a dolly to Shivam Dube at mid-off off the very next ball.
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Mohammad Mithun too mishit a big shot and KL Rahul did not make any mistake at long-off to send him back to the pavilion. By the time the next wicket fell, the Bangladesh batsmen had no choice but to go for a big shot every delivery.
Chahar cherishes such situations and he bowled a wonderfully disguised slower one to Shafiul Islam. Islam hit it with all his might but could not get the ball over Rahul at long-on. This was the first wicket of his hattrick. On his next ball, which was the first ball of the final over, Mustafizur Rahman hit it right down the throat of Shreyas Iyer at deep point.
He completed his hattrick with an unplayable inswinging hattrick and registered the best bowling figures in T20I history. It is the only hattrick by an Indian bowler in T20I cricket.
Deepak Chahar's 6/7 against Bangladesh in November are the best figures in the history of men's T20I cricket.
— ICC (@ICC) January 15, 2020
That spell is the T20I Performance of the Year.#ICCAwards pic.twitter.com/QJoXY3OuyQ
The Rajasthan pacer was obviously excited about the award.
“I am very happy to receive this award. I would like to thank the ICC for this award and to the BCCI for giving me a chance to represent my country. That performance was very special for me. I got an opportunity to play for India after a long time. Taking six wickets conceding only seven runs was a dream performance for me and will always remain close to my heart,” ICC quoted him saying.
