New Delhi [India], December 11 : Indian pace veteran Mohammed Shami achieved a rare milestone of completing 200 wickets in all formats of cricket on Wednesday.
Shami reached this landmark during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) quarterfinal against Baroda at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. In the match, Shami took two wickets in four overs, though he conceded 43 runs. He dismissed Shivalik Sharma and Atit Sheth on consecutive deliveries in the 19th over.
These were the pace veteran's 200th and 201st wickets in his T20 career, which spans 14 years. During this time, he has played for four Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises -- Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals, and Gujarat Titans -- as well as representing Bengal, India, and India 'A', according to Wisden.
Baroda, after being asked to bat first by Bengal, who won the toss, scored 172/7 in their 20 overs, thanks to a 90-run opening stand between Shashwat Rawat (40 off 26 balls, including a four and three sixes) and Abhimanyusingh Rajput (37 off 34 balls, with five fours and a six). Despite a valiant fifty from Shahbaz Ahmed (55 off 36 balls, with three fours and four sixes), Bengal was bowled out for 131 runs in 18 overs.
Shami now has 200 wickets each in first-class cricket (which includes Test matches for India and multi-day matches for states/zones), List A cricket (which includes limited-overs white-ball matches for India, states, zones, etc.), and T20 cricket (which includes 20-over matches for India, states, zones, franchises, etc.).
This treble is a rare feat in the cricketing world, having been achieved by only 34 bowlers in the sport's history. Shami is the eighth Indian to accomplish this, joining Piyush Chawla, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh, and Ravindra Jadeja. Among these, only Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah are other pacers.
Notably, only three players have over 300 wickets across all forms of cricket: South African legend Imran Tahir (784 first-class, 369 List A, 526 T20 wickets), Bangladesh icon Shakib Al Hasan (355, 400, 492 wickets), and England's Adil Rashid (512, 350, 354 wickets).
As Shami prepares for a potential national team comeback, with fans hoping to see him in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia away from home, he has taken 11 wickets in nine SMAT games at an average of 25.36 and an economy rate of 7.85. His best figures in the tournament are 3/21.