New Delhi: Making a comeback to international cricket after a long injury layoff, Mohammed Shami rewrote history books in his ICC Champions Trophy 2025 debut against Bangladesh.
India and Bangladesh kicked off their Group A campaigns at the Dubai International Stadium, where India bowled out Bangladesh for 228.
Shami led the charge with a five-wicket haul, finishing with figures of 5/53 in his 10 overs. In the process, he became the fastest Indian to reach 200 ODI wickets, with Jaker Ali (68) marking his milestone dismissal.
He is also the only second Indian bowler, after Ravindra Jadeja, to take a five-wicket haul in the Champions Trophy.
The 34-year-old also set a global benchmark, becoming the fastest bowler ever to reach 200 ODI wickets in terms of balls bowled as well. Shami needed just 5,126 deliveries to achieve the feat, surpassing Mitchell Starc’s previous record of 5,240 balls.
In terms of matches played to achieve the 200-wickets mark, Shami is joint-second fastest with Saqlain Mushtaq on 104 ODIs, just behind Starc, who did it in 102 games.
But the records didn’t stop there. Shami now also has the most wickets in ICC limited-overs tournaments.
The record was previously held by Zaheer Khan with 71 wickets in 44 matches. Shami surpassed the record with 74 wickets in just 33 matches.
With this achievement, he has now joined an elite club as the eighth Indian to breach the 200-wicket milestone in ODIs.
Along with Shami, Harshit Rana also made his Champions Trophy debut Thursday. The right-arm fast bowler picked three wickets, conceding 31 runs.
Axar Patel, who took the remaining two wickets, missed out on a hattrick, after skipper Rohit Sharma dropped Jaker Ali’s catch at slip.
(Edited by Sudha V)
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