Image Credit- AFP
Jasprit Bumrah was unable to endure staring. His look
reflected that of the 33,000 Indian supporters in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium and
tens, if not hundreds of millions, more across this enormous nation, as he
covered his mouth and his eyes with both hands. Had the World Cup just fallen
to Mohammed Shami?
India’s progress was under threat for the first time
in five and a half weeks, since their top-order collapse against Australia in
Chennai. The group stages swiftly evolved into a national triumph tour, with
each new location, opponent, and victory coming up. With 397 points available,
it felt like they were just continuing their march towards the semi-final.
But India faltered under the floodlights on Marine
Drive. After Shami took just ten balls to dismiss both openers, Kane Williamson
and Daryl Mitchell managed to go past the twilight zone that has proved fatal
for pursuing teams at the Wankhede this World Cup. They then asked India if
they had the necessary minerals for a knockout match.
They gave a blinked: Ravindra Jadeja went too far.
Yadav Suryakumar mishandled the ball. The late-swinging ball beat KL Rahul, who
gave up four byes and five wides. After fielding his own delivery, Jadeja
pounced, sending the ball past Rahul and onto the boundary. While collecting a
throw from Shami at point that could have put Williamson out of the game, Rahul
smashed the stumps without the ball in his gloves.
Williamson grabbed hold of Kuldeep Yadav’s drag-downs,
and Mitchell sent four clean sixes back over the heads of the bowlers, once
from Shami and three from Jadeja. By the time Rohit Sharma summoned Bumrah back
for his second spell, their partnership was worth 141 and the sold-out crowd
had barely raised an eyebrow for ninety-nine minutes.
Bumrah erred five balls into his recovery over. He
seemed to place a slower ball towards the back of the pitch, which sat up
tantalisingly for Williamson, who drew the ball hard and flat, cross-batted, to
mid-on. Just long enough for Bumrah to turn towards Shami in anticipation and
for people to feel their chests tense, the ball hovered in midair.
With a snap of his fingers, Shami grabbed hold of the
ball and it shot through his reverse-cup, hitting the ground with a clatter.
Puffing up his cheeks, he scurried back to get the ball.
Shami got three extra overs to think about his
oversight. After Shami came back to bowl, New Zealand required 179 more runs in
eighteen overs.
His second comeback ball was a harmless-looking 84 mph
slot ball that slid into Williamson’s pads. Without properly mixing the ball,
he flicked it out into the deep. Shami’s relief was evident as Suryakumar
positioned himself beneath it at a deep backward square leg, and the spectators
broke their collective vow of quiet.
That placed Tom Latham at number five. Shami had
already shown his exceptional record against left-handers at this World Cup by
dismissing Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra early on. Both players were caught
behind off balls that angled in and then straightened just enough to take the
outside edge. Latham was just another one of these left-handers that Shami had
to remove.
During this World Cup, Shami has bowled 52 balls to
left-handers, 51 of which have come from around the wicket; he now has an
average of 4 against them. His front foot only lands a few inches inside the
return crease when he bowls from such a wide crease, making the angle nearly
unplayable because his natural length is too big to cut or pull but too short
to drive, and any hint of movement either way is killer.
At the very end, Shami came back to wrap up India’s
victory. He got Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson caught behind him and raised
his arms in the air as Mitchell holed out to deep midwicket. He became the
first bowler from India to finish with seven wickets in a men’s ODI.
Shami was left out of the Indian squad a month ago in
an attempt to maintain equilibrium. On Thursday, he will fly to Ahmedabad for
the World Cup final as the top wicket-taker with 23 in six games. If he puts on
another performance like to this one, they might finally end their ten-year
wait for a significant trophy.