Dharamshala, Oct 23 (IANS): Former India opener Aakash Chopra lauded Mohammed Shami for his match-winning spell of 5-54 against New Zealand in 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup, saying the veteran pacer was phenomenal in his accuracy and length.

Shami also became the first Indian bowler to take a five-wicket haul twice in Men’s ODI World Cups through his spell at Dharamshala on Sunday. He had a perfect start on his first ball of the match when Will Young chopped on to his stumps.

Shami, who got into the playing eleven due to Hardik Pandya’s injury, returned in the last 20 overs of the innings, using yorkers and fuller deliveries to good effect, to take out Rachin Ravindra, Daryll Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, and Matt Henry, to clinch his third five-wicket haul in ODIs.

“This was Mohammed Shami’s first match of the World Cup and he returned with five wickets. It looked like he was bowling into a ‘gun barrel straight’. This is a phrase used for a pipe. It seems he was bowling consistently into that pipe. His accuracy was phenomenal. The length that he maintains varies and he also gets reverse swing.”

“So that was the reason why India, who would have been chasing about 325 runs, ended up with a target of 274. The billion-dollar question is: Will Shami stay in the XI when Hardik is fit? Well, I don’t have an answer for that at the moment,” said Chopra in an episode of JioCinema’s daily sports show ‘#AAKASHVANI’.

For New Zealand, top-order batter Daryl Mitchell hit nine fours and five sixes during his knock of 130 off 127 balls, which was also his maiden ODI World Cup century. A standout feature of is knock was him proactively using his feet and long levers to smash boundaries mainly down the ground and on leg-side against the spinners. He took 43 runs off 28 balls off Kuldeep Yadav in the middle-overs, leaving India in some trouble.

Chopra was impressed with how Mitchell put Kuldeep under pressure in middle-overs. “Daryl Mitchell was singularly responsible for that. The way he used his feet was commendable. He was reading the ball in Kuldeep’s hand very well and was stepping out and reaching it.”

“He is tall, has long levers and has a good flow but more than that, he had the confidence to step out and reach the pitch of the ball and then hit it straight. The ground at Dharamsala has shorter straight boundaries and Mitchell got the better of Kuldeep,” he concluded.