Had it not been for Hardik Pandya's injury, Shami might not have had the record-breaking World Cup he did, which began with
a five-for against New Zealand in Dharamsala. By the time India entered the semi-finals, he had 16 wickets from just five games.
The batters piled up 397 in Mumbai, and Shami was introduced into the attack as early as the sixth over, with instant impact: he got Devon Conway to edge to KL Rahul with his first ball, and forced Rachin Ravindra to do likewise an over later. His first spell read 3-0-15-2. And there was much more to come.
The first over of his third spell, the 33rd of New Zealand's innings, with the chase on and the game in the balance, Shami put an end to Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell's 181-run partnership, getting Williamson out flicking one to deep square. Two balls later he trapped Tom Latham in front. That double strike was a sucker punch to New Zealand's pursuit; when Shami returned to dismiss Mitchell in the 46th over, the game was beyond them. For good measure, he then wiped out the tail to go where no bowler had gone in the history of ODI World Cup knockout games.
New Zealand were on 219 for 2 after 32 overs when Shami was reintroduced, and needed 179 in 18 overs. The last 12 overs had produced 95 runs, replete with Indian errors - including Shami dropping a sitter himself to give Williamson a life. The Wankhede had gone eerily quiet. Two wickets in the space of four balls and the crowd rediscovered its voice and India their mojo. Shami had set them on their way to a first men's World Cup knockout win in eight years.
1 Number of Indians to have taken a seven-wicket haul in ODIs; Shami is the first. Stuart Binny held the Indian record for best ODI figures with 6 for 4 against Bangladesh in 2014.
1 Number of bowlers to have taken a seven-wicket haul in an ODI World Cup knockout game. Gary Gilmour (6 for 14 vs England in the 1975 semi-final) was the only one to have taken a six-for in knockout games in the tournament's history before Shami.
"I was waiting for my chances. I didn't play a lot of white-ball cricket. Last two World Cups, we lost [in the semi-finals]. Who knows when or if we'll get a chance [again], so we wanted to do everything for this. One chance - we didn't want to let go."
- Mohammed Shami