India fast bowler Mohammed Shami finished with a whopping 7 wickets in the semi-final victory over New Zealand in Mumbai on Wednesday but the match could have turned into nightmare for him after he dropped Kane Williamson's catch in the second innings.
Shami dropped an easy catch at mid-on off the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah to give Williamson a reprieve on 52 when New Zealand were cruising in their run-chase of 398.
Record-breaking Shami
But Shami made amends for the dropped chance when Rohit brought him back in the attack for his second spell in the 33rd over which completely turned the fortunes in India's favour.
Shami removed Williamson (69) and Tom Latham (0) in the same over which derailed the Kiwi chase even though Daryl Mitchell continued hitting from the other end during his knock of 134.
The dropped catch
"I dropped Williamson's catch, I shouldn't have. I felt terrible. But the focus was to try and take pace off, see if they're hitting it in the air. It was a chance we had to take," Shami said after bagging the Player of the Match award.
He became the first Indian to bag 7 wickets in a World Cup match and also clinched his fourth five-for in the tournament's history to break Mitchell Starc's record.
7-star Shami on cloud 9
Shami is now the leading wicket-taker in this World Cup with 23 scalps at 9.13 with three fifers and a four-wicket haul.
""I was waiting for my chances. I didn't play a lot of white-ball cricket. My return started against New Zealand [in Dharamsala]. It feels amazing [this kind of performance].
"Last two World Cups, we lost [in the semifinals]. Who knows when or if we'll get a chance, so we wanted to do everything for this, one chance we didn't want to let go," Shami added.
