Indian pacer Mohammed Shami is currently in brilliant form with the ball in hand. With the time progress, he is becoming more dangerous and consistent wicket-taker. He continued his wicket-taking ability in the big match against England in the ongoing Cricket World Cup and achieved a remarkable feat.
On Sunday (30th June), the unbeaten side India is playing against the host England at Birmingham in the match 38 of the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. After England decided to bat first, the English batsmen totally dominated over the Indian bowlers. However, the Indian pacers Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah put the desperate fights that helped India to restrict England to 337/7 (50 overs).
Though Mohammed Shami was expensive in this match, especially in the death overs, he picked up five wickets too. The right-arm pacer had the bowling figures of 10-1-69-5. While it was Shami’s maiden five-wicket haul in ODI career, it was the sixth time when an Indian bowler claimed a five-wicket haul in a CWC match. It is also the third consecutive time in this CWC when Shami picked up four or more wickets in an innings.
Mohammed Shami earlier claimed four-wicket hauls against Afghanistan and Windies
Shami is carrying on this form since India’s match against Afghanistan in this Cricket World Cup. While India secured a close 11-run victory at Southampton, Shami claimed a hat-trick and also had the impressive bowling figures of 9.5-1-40-4. In the crucial final over of that match, Shami became the only second Indian bowler to claim a CWC hat-trick that also secured India’s victory.
In their next match against Windies at Manchester, India claimed a massive 125-run victory. Once again, the right-arm pacer Mohammed Shami delivered a powerful spell as he had the bowling figures of 6.2-0-16-4.
He continued this wicket-taking form during India’s latest match against the host side England. Claiming a five-wicket haul, Shami becomes the first Indian bowler to claim three consecutive four-wicket hauls in CWC. No other Indian bowlers have claimed four-wicket hauls for more than twice in CWC history.
In overall, it was the fourth four-wicket haul for Mohammed Shami in the Cricket World Cup history. His first four-wicket haul in CWC was during his CWC debut against Pakistan (4/35) at Adelaide in the previous edition (15th February 2015).
Shahid Afridi also claimed three consecutive four-wicket hauls in CWC
Mohammed Shami is only the second bowler in CWC history to claim three consecutive four-wicket hauls. Former Pakistan leg-spinner Shahid Afridi was the first bowler to achieve this feat in Cricket World Cup. He achieved this incredible feat in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. In that tournament, Afridi claimed three consecutive four-wicket hauls against Kenya (5/16), Sri Lanka (4/34) and Canada (5/23) respectively.
Coming back to the latest match between England and India, Mohammed Shami has taken 30 CWC wickets. After this five-wicket haul, Shami becomes the fourth most wicket-taker for India in Cricket World Cup history. In this list, Shami is only behind of Zaheer Khan (44 wickets), Javagal Srinath (44 wickets) and Anil Kumble (31 wickets).