Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) pacer Mohammed Shami made history on Saturday (May 23). He became the first bowler in IPL history to take a wicket of the first ball of an innings six times, going past Rajasthan Royals (RR) seamer Jofra Archer, who has done it five times.
Shami achieved a record by getting the wicket of Punjab Kings (PBKS) opener Priyansh Arya in the LSG’s last league stage match of IPL 2026 at the Ekana Stadium. Shami, an experienced international, that he is, bowled a rapid bouncer first up. Priyansh couldn’t control it and ended up lobbing it to mid-wicket, where Arjun Tendulkar took an easy catch.
Overall in T20 cricket, Pakistan’s left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi and England pacer Luke Wood have taken the joint-most number of wickets
on the first ball of an innings – nine. They are followed by David Willey with eight, Trent Boult with seven, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Amir, Shami, Dirk Nannes, and Sohail Tanvir with six each.
Shami’s figures on the first ball of an innings are brilliant. He has conceded only 40 runs in 79 such balls with a bowling average of 6.66.
Mohammed Shami banging on the selectors’ door
Soon after Priyansh’s wicket, Shami sent back PBKS’ in-form batter Cooper Connolly. He has taken 12 wickets in 13 innings at an average of 36.08.
He missed out on India’s squad for the ODI and Test series against Afghanistan. Ajit Agarkar was asked whether he made it to the discussions at all and the chief selector’s reply was quite interesting.
“As far as we have been told, at this point, his body is allowing him to play T20s. I know he has played a domestic season this year. But the information that I have got is that at this point, it is T20s that he is sort of ready for,” Agarkar said while speaking at the press conference. “So, there was no discussion regarding him,” he added.
