Mohammad Shami has emerged as the most successful Indian bowler in the history of the World Cup besides becoming the bowler with the most number of wickets in the ongoing World Cup. This is despite the fact that he wasn’t considered worthy of selection in the first four matches of the World Cup, currently underway in India.
Shami was responsible for single-handedly destroying New Zealand in the first semi-final, which was played at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday. He finished with an impressive spell of 7-57 in 9.5 overs, taking his overall tally to 23 wickets in just five matches.
Shami’s frightening records
Shami was forced to sit outside and carry water for the team in the first four matches of the World Cup. However, when he was brought in the team after Hardik Pandya became unavailable due to injury and Shardul Thakur was dropped due to poor performance, Shami was in the team causing devastation in the opposite camps with his lethal swing bowling. He went on to take three five-wicket hauls, one four-wicket haul and two wickets in another match.
Before the start of Wednesday’s India-New Zealand semi-final, Shami was not even in the list of top five bowlers. With 16 wickets in five matches, Shami was placed sixth on the list. However, his performance in one match catapulted the bowler from Uttar Pradesh to the top as he ended the day with a seven-wicket haul.
This wasn’t enough. Shami went on to become the most successful Indian bowler in the history of the ODI World Cup, surpassing the record of Zaheer Khan. Khan has 44 wickets from 23 matches while representing India in ODI World Cups.
In contrast, Shami has now taken 54 wickets in 17 matches. This could change as Shami may add more wickets to his name in the World Cup final.
With 23 wickets, Shami has also broken Zaheer Khan’s previous record of 21 wickets in a single edition of a World Cup in 2011. Australia’s Mitchell Starc holds the record of the most number of wickets in a single edition of the World Cup. He picked up 27 wickets in 10 matches in 2019 when hosts England went on to win the trophy.
Shami has become the fastest bowler to reach 50 World Cup wickets. Shami has achieved this feat in 17 matches while Starc did this in 19 matches.
Shami’s spell of 7-57 is the best bowling spell in the World Cup by any Indian bowler. He beat the previous best bowling by Ashish Nehra (6-23) in the 2003 edition of the World Cup, which was held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
Shami’s spell of 7-57 was the best bowling spell in ODI by any Indian player. He beat the previous best held by Stuart Binny (6-4).