96 WC: Story of a pani puri seller

[Cricket_Hacker]

The pani-puri seller, Bharat Shah, aged 23 at that time, got the chance to bowl at the swashbuckling opener in the nets through one of his friends. He bowled just one over at Astle, but that was enough to stun a batsman, who had amassed over 7,000 ODI runs. The first three deliveries of his over were reportedly bowled with scorching pace and missed the off-stump by a whisker. Astle managed to somehow defend the next two deliveries, but Bharat had saved his best for the final delivery of the over as he pegged back Astle's stumps to send it for a walk in the park. Astle, who was hugely impressed by the gift-wrapped skills of Bharat, even gave the Man of the Match cheque he received for his game-changing hundred to the pacer. Maybe the Indian selectors, who all the time yearn for a quick bowler, could have watched the youngster rattle New Zealand's premier batsman and beat him for sheer pace.

http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/69665/world-cup-countdown-?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=short-url#16-astle-left-surprised-by-food-vendor

[Sonix768]

Cricbuzz's Best World Cup moments series is very nice. I don't agree with some of their rankings though, if those numbers represent ranking.

[nevada]

It was very generous of Astle to give him the MOM check. If the IPL had been in existence, Shah may have had a chance of getting in to one of the teams.

[AmreekanDesi]

reminds me of the rajasthan royals team man Kamran khan. warne saw him bowling in the nets and asked for him to have a trial

[jusarrived]

It was very generous of Astle to give him the MOM check. If the IPL had been in existence' date=' Shah may have had a chance of getting in to one of the teams.[/quote'] if IPL was in existence then , people would have claimed Astle gave away his cheque to land a IPL contract

[nevada]

if IPL was in existence then ' date=' people would have claimed Astle gave away his cheque to land a IPL contract[/quote'] Wouldn't surprise me if people said that, it is a cynical world that we live in. Astle was an attacking batsman and he would have most likely got an IPL contract.

[BeautifulGame]

Was that before the first match or after ? :hmmm:

[amiret]

I remember reading his story in 1996. Nathan Astle asked him "Why aren't you in the Indian team " . I also recall Nathan Astle gifted him his MOM Cheque .