4 wickets off 4 balls: Mohammed Shami proves to be Team India's missing link vs Australia

Mohammed Shami featured in India’s T20I squad for first time in a year as he took field for India in a warm-up game against Australia, ahead of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. Three days after being anunced as replacement of Jasprit Bumrah in India’s 15-member World Cup squad, Shami proved his worth as a pacer on Monday. Despite bowling only one over in warm-up match, Shami illustrated his prowesses with ball as he returned with figures of 1-0-4-3.

Shami's stunning last-over wins match for India

Chasing target of 187 runs, Australia stood at 176/6 in 19 overs, before captain Rohit Sharma called Shami to bowl final over. After getting hit for two doubles in first two balls, a stunning one-handed catch from Virat Kohli at long-on gave pacer his first breakthrough. Coming out to bat at . eight, Ashton Agar returned to dugout following a ruut in very next ball. 

Australia - 176/6 to 180/10 in Mohammed Shami's over

Adding to celebration, Shami removed Josh Inglis in fifth ball to complete team hat trick. speedster helped India claim victory by six runs after bowling out Kane Richardson on a golden duck in final ball of over. fact that Shami wasn’t even named in India’s squad a week ago and his performance on Sunday accurately displays why team manment roped him into squad. 

Earlier in day, Shami took to his official Twitter handle and shared his feelings on playing T20 World Cup for India. “It required a lot of hard work, commitment and dedication to be back but journey to Australia has been thoroughly rewarding. better feeling than to be back with #TeamIndia and my boys. Looking forward to World Cup,” Shami said.

In first innings of match, KL Rahul top-scored for Men In Blye with a kck of 57 runs in 33 balls, which included three sixes and four sixes. Suryakumar Yadav also hit 50 off 33 as India reached 186 runs in 20 overs, at loss of seven wickets. Kane Richardson returned with best figures of 4/30 in four overs for Australia. 

While Shami took maximum of three wickets for India in thrilling second innings, Bhuvneshwar Kumar also registered two dismissals. Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, and Yuzvendra Chahal also contributed with one wicket each.