Published 22:38 IST, December 18th 2019
Mohammed Shami becomes the leading wicket-taker in the 50-overs format of 2019
Mohammed Shami became the leading ODI wicket-taker of 2019 in the 2nd ODI against West Indies at Vizag on Wednesday. He finished with figures of 3/39
Mohammed Shami, who was very expensive in the last match where he had given away 57 runs and only managed a single scalp made amends in the second ODI against West Indies at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Vizag on Wednesday. He was denied a well-deserved hat-trick but ended up creating an even bigger record.
Shami becomes the leading ODI wicket-taker of 2019
Shami was hit by the West Indian batsmen during the earlier part of the innings but unlike the previous match, he came back strongly and picked a couple of big wickets as the West Indies run chase lost its momentum. It happened in the 30th over of the second innings when the duo of Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran were threatening to take the match away from India's grasp and the Men In Blue needed something special to stage a remarkable comeback and Shami did just that. On the second delivery, Shami's short ball sent back a well-set Pooran and on the following delivery, he dismissed skipper Kieron Pollard to virtually end the visitors' hopes.
In this match, Mohammed Shami became the leading wicket-taker in One Day Internationals of 2019. He now has 40 wickets in 20 games. The speedster went past New Zealand pacer Trent Boult to achieve this feat. Boult has 38 scalps in a similar number of matches.
He finished with figures of 3/39 from his 7.3 overs at an economy rate of 7.20.
India level the series
Chasing a mammoth target of 388, the West Indies got off to a good start as openers Shai Hope and Evin Lewis added 61 runs for the opening wicket. After losing the wickets of Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase in quick succession, both Hope and wicket-keeper batsman Nicholas Pooran added 106 runs for the fourth-wicket stand. Pooran scored a quickfire 75 while Shai Hope top-scored with 78. Chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav's second hat-trick in One Day Internationals completely broke the backbone of the West Indian run chase. Keemo Paul scored a valiant 46 but in the end, was castled by Mohammed Shami as the Men In Blue registered a comprehensive 107-run win to level the three-match series 1-1. The decider will be played at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday.
Updated 23:12 IST, December 18th 2019