On this day in 2019: Kohli, Shami shine in India’s big win over West Indies
Mohammed Shami had an excellent 2019 World Cup where he also became only the second Indian bowler after Chetan Sharma (1987) to register a World Cup hat-trick. Shami proved to be lethal both with the new ball and at the death irrespective of the batters and the opposition.
He worked in tandem with the pace battery consisting of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and played a huge role in India making the semis. Meanwhile, it was on this very day in 2019 that he bowled a match-winning spell against the West Indies.
When Mohammed Shami made West Indies lose plot in a manageable chase
India faced the West Indies in the World Cup 2019 league match at the Old Trafford in Manchester. Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first. In-form Rohit Sharma was dismissed in a controversial manner for 18, but his opening partner KL Rahul showed great courage on a bowling wicket before he was out for 48. He was involved in a 69-run second-wicket stand with Kohli.
The batting megastar anchored the Indian innings and single-handedly looked to take India to a stiff total before being dismissed for 72 runs off 82 balls. In the end, finishing touches from MS Dhoni (56*) and Hardik Pandya (46) helped India post 268/7.
With the kind of batting line-up that the Windies had, it appeared to be a regulation chase for them. However, that was not to be as senior pacer Mohammed Shami wreaked havoc with the new ball straight away and reduced the Caribbeans for 16/2 by accounting for explosive opener Chris Gayle and Shai Hope.
The early blows completely forced the Windies to resort to a defensive strategy as the Indian bowlers kept adding pressure on them and the batters could only showcase sporadic performances.
Only Nicholas Pooran (28) and Sunil Ambris (31) showed some resistance as most of the batters were dismissed for single-digit scores. The West Indies in the end were skittled for a paltry 143 in the 35th over as the Men in Blue came out on top by a comprehensive margin of 125 runs which did a world of good to their net run rate.
Shami also got rid of the likes, Shimron Hetmyer and Oshane Thomas to complete a well-deserved four-wicket haul. The speedster finished with match-winning figures of 4/16 from his 6.2 overs at an impressive economy rate of 2.52. In the end, it was skipper Virat Kohli who was adjudged the Player of the Match award for his vital knock of 72.
