After picking the wicket of Shai Hope in third ODI match at Cuttack against West Indies, Mohammed Shami ended 2019 as the leading wicket taker. He grabbed a total of 5 wickets in the 3 match ODI series against West Indies and went past Trent Boult.
Shami picked a total of 42 wickets from 21 matches (21 innings) with an economy of 5.36 runs per over taking 4 wicket haul once and picked 5 wicket hauls once. This is the second time that Mohammed Shami picked the highest wicket taker in ODI format. He achieved the feat during 2014 where he picked 38 wickets.
Mohammed Shami was in and out of the team due to his inconsistent bowling. He was included in the team for the New Zealand tour that took place in January. The pace bowler showed his class and was the 2nd leading wicket taker with 9 wickets from 4 matches (4 innings) with an economy of 4.75 runs per over and best figures of 3/19. He provided early breakthroughs for Team India in that series and laid the foundation for the other bowlers to cash on.
Shami played all the three games during the 3 match ODI series during Australia tour. He picked 5 wickets with an economy of 5.08 runs per over. He registered best figures of 3/58 during the series helping India win an historic series win at their home soil.
During Australia’s return tour to India, Shami did not pick many wickets with only 5 wickets from 4 matches (4 innings) with an economy of 5.46 runs per over. His best figures in the series was 2/44.
He was wicket-less in 2019 only thrice. Shami got limited chances of playing in the XI and took 14 wickets from 4 matches (4 innings) at an amazing average of 13.78. He picked up an hattrick against Afghanistan and registered his best figures of 5/69 against Bangladesh.
Shami became the fourth bowler to pick the greatest number of wickets in a calendar year. Kapil Dev took 32 wickets in 1986, Ajit Agarkar 58 in 1998 and Irfan Pathan 47 wickets in 2004.
Trent Boult of New Zealand finished with 38 wickets from 20 matches (20 innings) with an economy of 4.70 runs per over. He took 4 wicket hauls twice and 5 wicket hauls once. His performance in the World Cup were brilliant with 17 wickets from 10 matches as New Zealand finished runners up.
His bowling partner Lockie Ferguson impressed with his speed and accuracy with 35 wickets from 17 matches (17 innings) with an economy of 5.19 runs per over. His best figures in year 2019 was 4/37.
Bangladesh leading pacer Mustafizur Rahman took 34 wickets from 16 matches ( 16 innings) with an economy of 6.77 runs per over. His best figures in the year was 5/59. Bhuvneshwar Kumar ends the top 5 leading wicket taker tally with 33 wickets from 19 matches ( 19 innings) with an economy of 5.23 runs per over. His best figures were 4/31.