Top 3 bowling performances from Mohammed Shami in IPL over the years

One of India's best seam bowlers, Mohammed Shami has consistently proven his mettle in all formats. Hailing from UP, he has been instrumental in India's success at the Test level and has also played a key part in ODI cricket.

His talent, however, isn't represented adequately as far as the seamer' IPL stats are concerned. In a total of 78 IPL innings, Mohammed Shami has racked up 82 wickets with an average of just under 30 and an economy rate of 8.61.

He was first signed by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2011, before finally making his debut for the franchise in 2013. The right-armer was then acquired by Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in 2014, who retained him in 2016 despite him missing the entire 2015 season with injury. His five-year association with DC ended as the franchise decided to release him.

In 2019, he revived his IPL career with Punjab Kings (PBKS), who bought him for a hefty price tag of ₹4.8 crore. He picked up an impressive 58 wickets in three seasons with PBKS.

At the IPL 2022 mega auction, the newly-formed Gujrat Titans splurged ₹6.25 crore for Mohammed Shami, which seemed like a good bargain for them.

With the skills to be effective with both the new and the old ball, the 31-year-old has shown terrific progress and is now a complete bowler.

On that note, let's take a look at Mohammed Shami's top three bowling performances in his IPL career.

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#3 4-0-30-2 vs Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020

The famous tie between Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians (MI) saw the first-ever double Super Over in the history of the IPL two years ago. In that particular game, Shami proved to be the unsung hero for the Punjab-based side.

After opting to bat first, MI started their innings in a dodgy fashion. Arshdeep Singh bowled Rohit Sharma before Shami dismissed Suryakumar Yadav for a duck in the fourth over.

In his second spell, Shami bowled two overs at the death and conceded just 15 runs, while also picking up the crucial wicket of Hardik Pandya. MI, however, with a late blitz by Keiron Pollard, reached a total of 176 runs.

In reply, KL Rahul played a phenomenal innings of 77 runs and powered his side to parity with MI. But his side didn't manage to get past it. After the scores got tied, the match went to a Super Over. However, PBKS batters could only score five runs.

In what seemed like a herculean task to defend, Shami kept his cool and bowled consecutive yorkers to the MI batters before restricting them to just five runs as well. In the second Super Over, MI set a target of 11 runs which was chased down by PBKS in just four deliveries.

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#2 4-0-25-3 vs Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022

Mohammed Shami after taking a wicket against Lucknow Super Giants [P.C: IPL]

Mohammed Shami got off to a flying start in IPL 2022, as he rattled the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) batters with a clinical display.

The Gujarat Titans (GT) chose to bowl first at the Wankhede Stadium and their pace attack was spearheaded by Shami. The Indian pacer took a wicket off the very first ball of the match.

Shami bowled an unplayable delivery first up to KL Rahul before dismissing the other opener, Quinton de Kock, with another peach of a delivery.

The former KKR pacer made things worse for the newcomers with yet another magical delivery to clean bowl Manish Pandey. Shami gave away just ten runs in his first spell and picked up three wickets inside the powerplay for the first time in the IPL.

Despite leaking 15 runs in his ultimate over, the 31-year-old just gave away 25 runs in his quota of four overs.

With half-centuries from both Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni, LSG posted a total of 158 runs on the board. In reply, GT put up a joint batting effort to sail to their first victory with five wickets in hand. Shami was adjudged the Payer of the Match for his breathtaking spell.

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#1 4-0-15-3 vs Delhi Capitals in IPL 2020

Mohammed Shami in action in the IPL [P.C: IPL]

In his team's 2020 season opener against Delhi Capitals, Mohammed Shami admirably led PBKS' pace attack. He got his campaign off to a great start with a 3-wicket haul against his former team.

After putting in the Delhi-based side to bat first in Dubai, Punjab dominated the powerplay courtesy of Shami's two wickets in one over. DC could only manage to score 23-3 inside the first six overs.

Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant did the recovery work before Shami came back, dismissing the former at a crucial juncture.

Marcus Stoinis then scored a belligerent 21-ball 53* to take DC to 157. Mohammed Shami finished the innings with figures of 4-0-15-3 and gave away just 3.8 runs per over.

The game, however, went to the Super Over, where Shami had the impossible task of defending 3 runs. Despite failing to do that, the Bengal pacer had a good match where he bowled brilliantly and recorded his best IPL bowling stats.