Mohammed Shami goes past Anil Kumble to become India's 2nd highest wicket taker in ICC Cricket World Cup

Mohammed Shami featured in his first match in ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

India pacer Mohammed Shami featured in his first game of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 when the Men in Blue clashed with New Zealand on October 22, 2023. The match is being played at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala.

Both teams came into this encounter having won all four of their matches thus far. India won the toss and Rohit Sharma chose to bowl first. Suryakumar Yadav replaced Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami came in for Shardul Thakur in Indian XI. On the other hand, New Zealand was unchanged.

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj built pressure on the Kiwi openers Devon Conway and Will Young. Bumrah bowled the first over of the match to Conway without conceding a run. And then in the 4th over, Mohammed Siraj trapped Conway into playing a false shot and he was caught by Shreyas Iyer at forward square leg for a duck.

In the absence of Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma then introduced Mohammed Shami into the attack and he made an immediate impact.

Mohammed Shami becomes the second-highest wicket-taker for India in Cricket World Cups

Mohammed Shami struck with his first ball in this ICC Cricket World Cup. He had to remain on the bench in the first four matches that India played in this World Cup. Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah formed a powerful pace attack with Shardul Thakur's assistance. Shami waited his turn and delivered when he was called to bowl.

His first ball was pitched on the shorter side of a length, near the off-stump. Will Young trying to dab it down the third man for a single, didn’t account for the slight inwards movement. The ball took the inside edge and hit the stumps.

This wicket of Will Young was Mohammed Shami’s 32nd wicket in ICC Cricket World Cups and he went past Anil Kumble to become the second-highest wicket-taker for India in ICC 50-over World Cups. Mohammed Shami made his World Cup debut in 2015 and became the second Indian to take a hat-trick in World Cups in the 2019 edition, against Afghanistan.

Shami now has 32 wickets in 12 matches at an economy of 5.12 with a best of 5/69.

The top spot is jointly held by Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan. Srinath picked 44 wickets in 34 World Cup matches in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 20023 editions. Zaheer picked his 44 wickets in the 2003, 2007, and 2011 World Cups.

Here is the list of the top five highest wicket-takers for India in ICC ODI World Cups:

1. Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan – 44 wickets

2. Mohammed Shami - 32 wickets

3. Anil Kumble - 31 wickets

4. Jasprit Bumrah and Kapil Dev - 28 wickets

5. Manoj Prabhakar - 24 wickets