By BIPIN DANI
Joe Root, the captain of the England team, was the second international batsman to have survived the two hat-trick balls in the same Test innings.
Last week, at Lord's he faced India's Mohammed Siraj after dismissal of Dom Sibley and Haseeb Hameed with successive balls in the 15th over of England's first innings, and later faced up to Ishant Sharma's next ball after he'd removed Moeen Ali and Sam Curran in his previous over (the 111th).
The other lucky survival is Bangladesh's Mohammad Ashrtaful (versus India, in Dhaka in 2004), when he thwarted Irfan Pathan on two separate occasions during a defiant 60 not out.
"Obviously, the batsman facing the 3rd ball of the same bowler after seeing the two wickets falling successively at the other end comes under pressure and if more pressure will be on him if it happens one more time in the same innings", the former captain Ashraful, speaking exclusively over the telephone from Dhaka, says.
"In my case, Irfan Ppathan was the bowler on both the occasions and his bowling was terrific at the time. He was bowling at a very high speed as a champion bowler. Only a genuine batsman could have survived his bowling. I took it as a challenge and survived both times".
"In the recent Test against India, Joe Root could also survive twice because Root is a very good, seasoned and experienced batsman. Only a good batsman can defend the hat-trick ball in a pressure situation like this", Ashraful signed off.
