He wouldn’t probably have been in Australia now had Jasprit Bumrah been fit, but Mohammed Shami on Monday showed the Indian team what they would have missed had he not been a part of the T20 World Cup squad.
The speedster, whose own fitness was also under the scanner having been out of action for quite some time, bowled a sensational 20th over as India pulled off a six-run win in a warm-up game against hosts Australia in Brisbane. Shami bowled only that one over as India defended 186/7 successfully.
Asked why Shami was held back, captain Rohit Sharma, speaking to Star Sports, said: “Honestly, he is coming back after a long time. So we just wanted to give him an over. This was always the plan from the beginning.
“He comes and bowls at the death. We know how lethal he can be with the new ball. We just wanted to give him a little bit of a challenge, coming and bowling that death over and we saw what it was.”
Shami last played a competitive game in July and recently was down with Covid-19 for a long time.
Needing 11 to win off the last six balls, the Aussies looked well on course with four wickets still in hand. But Shami had other plans.
Shami conceded four runs off the first two balls. Virat Kohli pulled off a stunning one-handed catch at the boundary as Pat Cummins was out off the third ball. Ashton Agar was run out in the next ball. The 32-year-old pacer then finished things off with two crisp yorkers, dismissing Josh Inglis and Kane Richardson.
Earlier, KL Rahul (57 off 33) and Suryakumar Yadav (50 off 33) smashed entertaining half-centuries for India.
Brief scores: India 186/7 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 57). Australia 180 in 20 overs (Mohammed Shami 3/4). India won by 6 runs.
Friendship in the air
Rivalry on the field, camaraderie off it — that’s been the India-Pakistan equation in cricket in the last few years. The trend continues at the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia, where the arch-rivals are scheduled to meet in Melbourne on Sunday.
Videos of Mohammed Shami sharing bowling tips with Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sunil Gavaskar offering invaluable batting advice to Babar Azam were posted by the Pakistan Cricket Board on Twitter.
While Shaheen thinks Shami’s “wrist position aur seam ka jawab nahi hai”, the Indian advised, “agar release point acha ho jayega na, seam bhi theek ho jayega”.
In the other video, Gavaskar was heard explaining the importance of “shot selection” to Pakistan captain Babar. Gavaskar also gifted Babar a signed cap.
The BCCI is willing to send the team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup next year. Is the pitch being prepared for that?