"She told Ravi Shastri" - RR pacer reveals Preity Zinta's stunning gesture from IPL 2017

Rajasthan Royals (RR) pacer Sandeep Sharma opened up on an incredible gesture from Punjab Kings (PBKS) co-owner Preity Zinta in the 2017 IPL season. Sandeep played for PBKS in his first five IPL seasons from 2013 to 2017. In one of his last matches for the franchise in his final season against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the now-32-year-old produced a match-winning spell.

Defending a sub-par 138, PBKS pulled off a thrilling 19-run victory, thanks to Sandeep's 3/22 in four overs. The right-arm pacer dismissed the three big scalps, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, and AB de Villiers, cheaply in his opening spell.

Yet, his PBKS teammate Axar Patel was about to be adjudged as the Player of the Match for his excellent all-round showing with 38 runs and three wickets.

In an interview with Crictracker, Sandeep recalls Priety Zinta overturning the decision in his favor.

"We were playing a match in Bengaluru against RCB. And I had taken three wickets with the new ball. Virat, ABD and Chris Gayle. So in that match, actually, the Player of the Match was supposed to be Axar Patel, who had also taken two wickets in that match and it was a low-scoring game. In the last over, he had scored 25 runs [19 runs] and scored 38 runs [in total]. But the Player of the Match was his, if you look at it. So Preity ma'am was there and she told Ravi Shastri there that the Player of the Match should be Sandy, he has picked three big wickets," he said.

Sandeep added:

"And actually, they gave me the Player of the Match. That was one sweet thing. And I actually went and offered it to Axar. But, he told me that these three wickets were very important. Otherwise, 138 runs wouldn’t have been defended anywhere."

The final decision went in Sandeep's favour as he was adjudged the Player of the Match for his brilliant spell.

Sandeep Sharma includes one Indian in his five best pacers of all time

Sandeep Sharma picked two Asians, Jasprit Bumrah and Wasim Akram, as two of his best five pacers of all time. The RR pacer England's James Anderson, South Africa's Dale Steyn, and Australia's Glenn McGrath as the three to round off his top five.

Anderson is the third leading wicket-taker of all-time across formats with 991 scalps in 401 games. McGrath and Akram are fifth and sixth on the list with 949 and 916 wickets, respectively.

Meanwhile, Steyn finished his illustrious international career one shy of 700 wickets in 265 outings. Bumrah is the only active bowler on Sandeep's all-time list, with the right-arm pacer currently on 457 scalps in 207 matches.