Senio India pacer Mohammed Shami took three wickets in the first ODI against England, on Tuesday, at The Oval, to complement Jasprit Bumrah’s six-wicket haul as India bowled the hosts out for a lowly total of 110.
With this three-for, Shami’s tally of ODI wickets reached 151 and he is now the record holder for being the fastest Indian bowler in terms of matches taken to reach the 150 ODI wickets landmark.
Shami achieved this feat of 150 ODI scalps in his 80th ODI match surpassing the previous record by a big distance – that of Ajit Agarkar who took 97 matches to take 150 wickets. Zaheer Khan is the third-fastest Indian to reach this particular milestone.
Fastest Indian (in terms of matches) to take 150 wickets in ODI format:
Mohammed Shami – 80 games
Ajit Agarkar – 97 games
Zaheer Khan – 103 games.
Overall, Shami is the joint third-fastest player to reach in world cricket. Both he and star Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan and New Zealand pacer Trent Boult took 80 games to attain this feat. Only Australian speedster Mitchell Starc and legendary Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq took fewer attempts than Shami to reach 150 ODI wickets.
Fastest to 150 ODI wickets:
Mitchell Starc – 77 games
Saqlain Mushtaq – 78 games
Mohammed Shami – 80 games
Rashid Khan – 80 games
Trent Boult – 80 games
Mohammed Shami-Bumrah show rattle England
Inside the first 10 overs of England’s innings, Bumrah and Shami rattled the hosts effectively using the swing and seam movement available. England lost 5 wickets in the first 8 overs, and were 8 down by the 17-over mark. Four of England’s top six were dismissed for a duck.
Bumrah registered stunning bowling figures of 6/19 – the third-best ODI bowling figures by an Indian bowler – while Shami returned with figures of 3/31 in 7 overs. Shami accounted for the dismissals of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. The England captain was looking to counter attack and even hit Shami for a four but the senior Indian paceman had his revenge, bouncing out Buttler caught in the deep by Suryakumar Yadav.
