By IANS
Chandigarh : Indian medium pacer Joginder Sharma’s last over in the Twenty20 World Championships semi-final against Australia Saturday night, when he took two wickets to help India march into the final, has earned him a Rs.50,000 reward from his home state, Haryana.
Sharma, who represents Haryana in domestic cricket, bowled the final over of the nail-biting match in which Australia needed 22 runs from one over for victory. Sharma justified his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s confidence in him by removing Michael Hussey and Brett Lee in the over to dump the World Cup champions out of the tournament.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a keen cricket lover, announced the reward for Sharma here Sunday.
The reward comes under a scheme announced by the state government earlier this month that any bowler getting a wicket in an international match will be given Rs.25,000 per wicket.
Sharma was recently appointed as the deputy superintendent of police by the Haryana government.
A Haryana police spokesman said Sunday that the state wants Sharma to play a crucial role in Monday’s final against archrivals Pakistan.
Cricket legend Kapil Dev, also a Haryana native, had captained India to the 1983 World Cup victory.