Aadya Sharma was at Lucknow to witness Mohammed Shami scorch England with a searing display of fast bowling.
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Ben Stokes will not forget this spell in a hurry. Ten balls, five misses, three shattered stumps.
Stokes had tried everything. He tried stepping out to drum Mohammed Shami through the covers, but the extra lift escaped him. Virat Kohli, at first slip, let out an appeal, but got no company. Hands on head, Shami stared hard.
He then tried to run it down to third man, but couldn’t match the pace of the ball. Never mind, we try again.
Spooked by the skiddy, jagging kind, Stokes got jammed in his crease. A nervous prod followed as the seam whizzed past his bat, inches away from his off stump. Kohli had a wry smile as the ball thudded into KL Rahul’s gloves.
Next ball was an exact repeat. Stokes, unmoved, fishing at it, not able to land any contact. This is Ben Stokes, master strokemaker. And here he was, chasing shadows. A couple of deliveries managed to find the bat, but that was that.
And then came the knockout punch. On length, angled in, making Stokes look silly. Entangled in his own stroke and trying desperately to break free, Stokes exposed all his stumps and couldn’t save much of them.
It’s incredible to think that Shami did not play the first four matches of this World Cup. Not that it hurt India’s results, but this manner of mayhem doesn’t really deserve time on the bench. Two matches in, he is a wrecking ball, having run through England and New Zealand, the last two finalists, with spells that have definitely made him undroppable.
“The decision the management took was based on the wicket, and playing the right combination,” bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said after the game, revealing no guilt in leaving Shami out previously. “Earlier, Ash missed out, Shami missed out – it’s very difficult to take such a call, but in the team’s interest, you had to. And that’s what the communication with the individual players has been.”
5W haul against Australia ✅
5W haul against New Zealand ✅
4W haul against England ✅Two 5W hauls and one 4W haul in his last four ODI innings for Mohammed Shami 🔥#MohammedShami #India #INDvsENG #Cricket #ODIs #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/HW4gT8LmrO
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) October 29, 2023
There’s perhaps another way of looking at it. Shami got two weeks worth of rest, and is now warmed up enough to usher the team into the knockouts. Hardik Pandya’s unfortunate injury has also afforded India to integrate Shami: somewhere between the official No.2 bowler in ODIs, and the unofficial No.1.
Against England, Shami smelt blood and chased it, throwing seaming beauties on a tricky surface and letting them zip into the English batters. The dew did not matter, and commentators observed there was enough of it. It negated England’s call to bowl first, and made a seemingly adequate 229 look like an imposing total.
He did that without deviating from his incredibly potent methods – the same lengths can slam-dunk batters with the red ball too. “In an era of wobble and cross seam exponents, Watching Shami bowl is a master class of seam position and lateral movement,” noted Ian Bishop.
Stokes wasn’t the only one befuddled by Shami’s plan. When No.10 Adil Rashid – batting calibre well-known – shouldered arms twice in three balls of the 36th over, Shami decided to have fun. He pinged one in short, hitting the high part of Adil Rashid’s bat that read BS. He probably was done with the BS himself. When two leg-side wides followed, you wondered why Shami was so desperate to ruin his own figures.
Shami in World Cups:
35/4(9)
30/2(8)
35/3(8)
41/3(9)
48/3(9)
37/2(8)
68/0(10)
40/4(9.5)
16/4(6.2)
69/5(10)
68/1(9)
54/5(10)
22/4(7)He is the man for World Cups. pic.twitter.com/f1otoUdDBW
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 29, 2023
By then, Rashid had opened up: a widish delivery, smashed through covers. Pfft, easy. But that was the plan.
The next ball came right in, angling into Rashid. Having negotiated two leg-side wides and after punching a wide one, Rashid couldn’t quite handle the searing heavy ball. It tied him up and dismantled his stumps, leaving little behind. It made Kohli hurl flying kisses at him.
The wicket brought an end to Shami’s spell: 7-2-22-4. The figures were merely an addition to an already remarkable World Cup career.
Among all bowlers with at least ten World Cup wickets, Shami’s bowling average (14.07) is the fourth-best ever, and the strike rate – 16.9 – the third-best. He is tied with Mitchell Starc with the most World Cup four-fors (6).
He has bowled in 13 World Cup innings. Only once has he not taken a wicket. Only once has he only taken one wicket. He’s got four three-fors, three four-fors and two five-fors. Only once has his economy rate tipped past seven.
Seventeen overs, nine wickets, two maidens. That is, in summary, Mohammed Shami’s World Cup 2023 so far. By the end of this tournament, he is very likely to be India’s all-time wicket-taker in World Cups.
“Suddenly, the hierarchy within the pace bowling group has changed,” said Sanjay Manjrekar, referring to the look of India’s bowling attack evolving with Shami’s entry. Shardul Thakur, the original choice, can now prepare to stay on the benches: it doesn’t look likely that his services would be needed in time. Not that it was ever a bowler versus bowler competition.
One would think it can’t be easy getting your own spotlight when Jasprit Bumrah is in the same team, but Shami’s statistical brilliance has little competition. Between December 2019 and January 2023, he played a grand total of nine ODIs, probably missing out on some extraordinary numbers. He is yet to play 100 ODIs, and it might not be as apparent, but he sits among some of the greatest bowlers of the format.
Among all ODI bowlers with as many wickets as Shami currently (180), only Mitchell Starc has a better strike rate (26.4 to Shami’s 26.6). With the same filter, Shami has the tenth-best average (24.65) ever. He now has the most four-fors among all Indian ODI bowlers (13). And this is while going in and out, changing roles, bowling with the new ball or first-change.
England wouldn’t want to see him in a hurry, nor would the rest. Make him sit all you want, but when he’s out there, remember he is one of the best there has ever been.
The city of Lucknow has seen several Nawabs. On Sunday night, they witnessed true ODI royalty.
