Indian pacer Mohammed Shami finished 2019 as the highest wicket-taker in one-day international cricket. He dismissed Shai Hope for 42 in the third and final ODI against West Indies at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack to end the year with 42 wickets from 21 matches which comprise two four-wicket hauls, one fi-fer, and an elite World Cup hat-trick.
Shami had gone past New Zealand speedster Trent Boult who amassed 38 wickets in 20 ODIs at 23.97 and his compatriot Lockie Ferguson bagged 35 wickets in 17 matches at 23.71, with five wickets in the three-game ODI series against West Indies.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (33), Kuldeep Yadav (32) and Yuzvendra Chahal (29) are the other Indians on the top-10 list, placed at fifth, sixth and ninth, respectively.
Shami finished as the highest wicket-taker in ODIs for the second time in his career. He had bagged 38 wickets in 2014. Overall, Shami is the fourth Indian bowler to finish as the highest wicket-taker in ODIs in a calendar year after Kapil Dev (32 wickets in 1986), Ajit Agarkar (58 wickets in 1998) and Irfan Patha (47 wickets in 2004). However, Shami became the first Indian bowler to end a calendar year as highest wicket-taker in ODIs. twice in his career.
"Shami reminds me of Malcolm Marshall, who still wakes me up from deep sleep," former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar said while commentating for 'Star Sports' during the third ODI in Cuttack, when asked about his favourite Indian fast bowler.
Talking about the match, Windies skipper Kieron Pollard (74 not out off 51 balls) and Nicholas Pooran (89) stitched a blitzkrieg partnership -135 run from 98 balls- to take West Indies to a 315 for 5 against India. The Indian bowling attack that looked confident during the first 40 overs, were smashed for 118 in the last 10 overs to get past 300-run target.
