From the bench to being the best: Shami’s incredible World Cup journey

This time last month, India’s most experienced paceman in the World Cup squad was watching from the sidelines, wondering if, not when, he would get his chance to showcase his wares. Team dynamics had relegated Mohammed Shami to the bench. It was not a reflection of his abilities or skills; it was just that the need to have an additional half-batting resource at No. 8 meant the nod went to a-bit-of-this, a-bit-of-that Shardul Thakur than the fast bowler without a non-aggressive bowling bone in his body.

Shami didn’t complain, because that’s not his wont. He didn’t moan, because he isn’t wired that way. Instead, buying into the team philosophy, he proved an invaluable mentor and guide, offering his inputs and wisdom when he could, while ensuring that he didn’t allow rust to creep into his system.

Then, in one fell swoop, the World Cup took a dramatic turn for four individuals. An untimely, unfortunate, gut-wrenching ankle injury to all-rounder Hardik Pandya against Bangladesh on October 19, which eventually ended his tournament, necessitated a wholescale change in thinking, resulting in a changed new dynamic that has worked to India’s advantage. Out of the gloom of despair of Pandya’s injury emerged an alternative scenario that also ushered Thakur out and brought in Suryakumar Yadav and Shami, respectively, as the specialist batting and bowling replacements for the multi-skilled Pandya.

Even when Pandya was around, there was a compelling argument for Shami to play whenever India chose four quicks. Thakur earned the think-tank’s approval because, once in ten games maybe, when he was required to bat, he might chip in with a useful 20. The counter to that was that if Shami embraced his wicket-taking avatar, India wouldn’t need a useful 20 from their No. 8, given the felicity of their top seven. Many outside the team set-up shared this opinion, but that counted for little. After all, it was what Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid thought was best for the team that mattered.

The comeback

Shami hadn’t allowed the grass to grow under his feet when he was warming the bench; he wasn’t going to allow it to do so when he got a run. His first outing wasn’t until India’s fifth match of the tournament, against New Zealand in Dharamsala. Shami took exactly one ball to reiterate his value, dismissing opener Will Young with his first delivery of the World Cup. It wasn’t the last time he would do so.

In subsequent games against Sri Lanka and South Africa, he tasted success with his first and third deliveries respectively. On Wednesday against New Zealand, he was at it again, snaffling Devon Conway with his first ball of the semifinal. It was the first of a seven-card trick that netted him the best ODI figures by an Indian, seven for 57 in 9.5 outstanding overs on a surface that yielded 724 runs in 98.5 overs.

In that aforementioned game in Dharamsala, Shami finished with five for 54, making him the only Indian bowler with two five-fors in World Cups. His decisive final burst ensured that New Zealand, well on course to reach 310, were bowled out for 273, the most runs India had conceded in the tournament until the semifinal, when the Kiwis responded to India’s 397 for four with 327 all out.

Five matches thereafter have brought Shami two more five-wicket hauls — five for 18 against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede, and Wednesday’s seven for 57 at the same venue. He also has a four for 22 (against England) and two for 18 (against South Africa), taking his tally for the tournament to an incredible 23 sticks from just six matches, the most by any bowler at the World Cup. He has the fairly ridiculous average of 9.13 and a strike-rate of a wicket every 10.91 deliveries. India’s pride, the world’s envy.

“He’s been incredible,” gushed New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, one of the top batsmen of his generation. “He’s without a doubt one of the top operators in the world and the way he moves the ball and keeps bringing the stumps into play has been quite phenomenal. The amount of wickets he’s gotten in such a small amount of games in this tournament is sensational.”

Getting the ball to talk

The key to Shami’s success is that he hasn’t gone about looking for wickets. That might seem odd, given that we are talking about an attacking, aggressive, wicket-taking bowler, but Shami has primarily stuck to his disciplines, allowing the conditions to do the work for him. Apart from that Dharamsala game against New Zealand, when India bowled first, Shami has had the luxury of bowling under lights with huge scores behind him (except against England when, on a surface of dubious characteristic, India were restricted to 229 for nine). He has got the ball to talk, using his mastery of the seam that he delivers bolt upright thanks to his wonderful wrist position to devastating effect.

His fuller length in the quest for swing might have occasionally led to a few boundaries, but that’s a price Shami and India are willing to pay because the alternative, wickets, is so alluring. Coming one-change behind Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, Shami has either taken a cue from the new-ball bowlers and maintained the stranglehold, or retrieved the situation with crucial blows when one of his predecessors has had a rare off-spell.

At the Wankhede in the semifinal, he was Rohit’s unquestioned go-to man. The skipper brought on his lynchpin in the sixth over and Shami obliged with his first ball, sucking Conway into a drive that flew off the edge and nestled in the gloves of the flying KL Rahul, diving full tilt to his left. In his next over, Shami packed off the hugely skilled Rachin Ravindra, also caught behind, to kick off India’s defence of their massive total.

For nearly two hours, Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell threatened the impossible with an entertaining alliance of 181, facilitated by Shami shelling a sitter from Williamson on 52, off Bumrah. Determined to atone for that lapse, he packed off the Kiwi skipper and Tom Latham in the space of three deliveries, then came back for a final burst to jettison centurion Mitchell, Tim Southee and last man Lockie Ferguson. It was fearsome, it was intimidating, it was exhilarating. It was oh-so-Shami, him of the ready smile and the big heart of an unflagging competitor.