Mohammed Shami and a World Cup spell from his wildest dreams

28.4 overs into New Zealand’s chase, and there is uneasiness at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, despite Mohammed Shami ripping the game open for India at the very start.

Daryl Mitchell, who has already scored a hundred against India this World Cup, is flexing his muscles and has his captain Kane Williamson for company. The required run rate is still steep, but the Kiwis are now starting to believe that this could be their night.

Jasprit Bumrah has been brought back into the attack to break this partnership. The first four balls do not elicit much excitement or induce any false strokes. The fifth ball, though, does.

A back-of-a-length delivery sticks in the surface just enough to meddle with Williamson’s timing. His flat-batted pull, rather than flying over mid-on, arrows towards the fielder in the ring.

The ball is not too high. It is not too low. It is perfect to be pouched. Shami, India’s bowling hero at the World Cup, settles himself behind it, reverse-cupped and just waiting for the ball to lodge into his palms.

At that very instant, you could sense the Wankhede just waiting to erupt. This is, after all, the wicket 30,000-plus at the ground, and millions at home were waiting for. The only discrepancy here is that the wicket does not really come to fruition.

Shami drops a fairly regulation chance, and the cacophony of noise that was supposed to swarm the Wankhede Stadium, Marine Drive, and areas around it, transforms into deafening silence. This might be cliche, but you could hear a pin drop, and you could feel the anticipation turn into anxiety.

All those memories of the 2016 T20 World Cup semi-final defeat to the West Indies, at this venue, when India were sloppy in the field, come gushing back. Shami’s tournament, which had been nothing short of a dream up till that point, now threatens to become a bit of a nightmare…

***

Let’s rewind an hour or so ago. New Zealand, in pursuit of 398, get off to a decent start. Devon Conway, who has played several stunning knocks during his time in the IPL as a Chennai Super Kings player, has started off strongly, finding the fence regularly. Rachin Ravindra, who stood at the other end, has not blazed away yet, but is the third-highest run-getter at this World Cup.

After five overs of a 50-over run-chase, in which New Zealand have managed 30 for no loss, India do not quite feel the pinch. But they do acknowledge the need for a wicket. And whenever that has been the case this World Cup, India have looked towards Shami, and he has delivered.

The first ball he bowls is from around the wicket to Conway – an angle he struggles against and an angle that Shami dismissed him via in the opening game of IPL 2023.

On that evening in Ahmedabad, the ball nipped back to leave Conway’s stumps in a mess. On Wednesday in Mumbai, it seemed destined to do something similar until…it held its line just enough to take the outside edge.

A few overs later, Ravindra falls in a fairly similar fashion. He was perhaps not driving as expansively as Conway, but the result is the same – a nick through to KL Rahul behind the stumps.

India, in the space of 16 balls, have gotten the dream start they wanted. Provided, of course, by Shami.

***

“You have to dream before your dreams come true.”

These are words the late great Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, a former Indian president, had once said. The logic behind it, at least to those willing to take in its true essence, is simple.

For a goal to be achieved, or for a dream to come true, you must have visualized what exactly that would entail. There will be times when you might feel a shorter-term gain is more appealing and more rewarding. But to accomplish your ultimate objective, keeping track of what you set out to do initially is paramount.

***

When the World Cup began, Shami was not in India’s first-choice 11. The batting muscle of Shardul Thakur seemed more appealing, as did his ability to keep picking wickets through the middle overs, even if he conceded more runs than his peers.

It was not too dissimilar during the Asia Cup that preceded the World Cup, with Shami only playing when one of the pacers needed a day off, or when they wanted to experiment.

Now, the Indian bowling attack is unimaginable without the Gujarat Titans speedster. To extend that metaphor further, a place in the World Cup final also seems unimaginable without Shami.

***

Mohammed Shami's two-wicket over proved to be game-changing

28.5 overs into the run-chase. Shami has just dropped Williamson at mid-on. There are a few moans and groans at the Wankhede and in front of television sets. Most are still calm because India have plenty of runs in the bank. Some, though, just begin to wonder if Shami has dropped the World Cup.

A lot of cricketers, when thrust into this situation, could have sulked. They could have felt the weight of the world on their shoulders, and they could have crumbled. But if you ever thought Shami would be a part of that list, well, you have not watched him this World Cup at all.

Mere minutes after he puts Williamson down, he returns with the ball. A score to settle, and a responsibility to tilt this game in India’s favour again. The ball that gets Williamson might not make highlight reels, for the Kiwi captain flicks a length delivery off his pads straight to deep square leg.

It all lies in the subtlety of Shami’s skill, though. The ball was bowled just a touch slower, and it gripped the surface ever so slightly. Enough to make Williamson mistime his stroke.

Once Williamson walked back, Tom Latham marked his guard. Indian fans, especially, will know he loves facing the Men In Blue. No left-hander, though, fancies facing Shami from around the wicket, and in two balls, he showed exactly why.

After the first ball that nipped away against the angle, one came back in. Latham, expecting the ball to straighten, played down the wrong line and was pinned on the front pad, right in front of the middle stump. He was so adjacent that he did not even bother with the review, and across three balls, New Zealand’s chase had metamorphosed from being promising to one in peril.

Shami is not satisfied with just four wickets, however. He returns to nip out Mitchell and hammer the final nail in the Kiwi's coffin. Lockie Ferguson and Tim Southee are accounted for, too, and the speedster finishes with a seven-for.

No Indian bowler has taken that many in an innings in men’s ODI cricket. No Indian cricketer has taken that many in a men’s ODI World Cup innings, and no Indian has more wickets than Shami in the men’s ODI World Cup.

Those with a Kiwi persuasion might have felt it all happened too quickly. Look closely, though, and every wicket Shami took was crafted with precision. It felt so instinctive that it had to be well-planned, and in 9.5 overs of bowling, he only reiterated that simplicity is genius.

It is revealing that once the dust had settled, he talked about how he wanted to bowl fuller with the new ball and stick to his strengths. He also added how, at times, there is too much focus on variations in white-ball cricket, and that he tried to not get too drawn towards it.

And to think this spell may not have happened altogether. Not because India were not playing him at the start of the World Cup, but also because it threatened to turn so awfully pear-shaped when the pacer grassed a regulation chance. The opposition skipper’s chance, no less.

That, though, adds to the beauty of it all. The adversity Shami has overcome, the ability he has showcased, and the answer he has had for all the questions batters have thrown at him.

This was a spell right out of his and India’s wildest dreams. Most would not have even dreamt of it. It was so surreal, and to an extent, ludicrous. But Shami dreamt it, he visualized every single moment, worked towards it without worrying about short-term gains, and kept at it, even when it would have been easier to change tack and do something just to conform to the norm.

That is why that dream came true. And that is why India’s World Cup dream is still alive.