Apart from the main centre at the Gabba in Brisbane, where all the action of two high-profile t20 World Cup matches took place on Monday, the practice area was also quite busy with rop India, Pakistan and England cricketers using it at the same time. Virat Kohli, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan batted side-by-side in the nets while pacers Mohammed Shami, and Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled together in a separate session that also included England batters.
Shami, who was seen sharing tips with the Pakistan's spearhead Shaheen Afridi, telling him the effectiveness of a perfect seam position, also interacted with England batters. In a video that has now gone viral, England batter Phil Salt was seen interrupting Shami and Afridi's chat to place a request for the India pacer.
It appeared that the England right-hander was requesting Shami to bowl a couple of deliveries to him in the net. Shami readily agreed and asked the right-hander to take guard. Another England batter Harry Brook, in the meantime was seen, having a friendly chat with the Pakistan left-arm seamer.
Watch Video: England's Phil Salt interrupts Shami, Shaheen Afridi's chat to request India pacer to bowl at him
Shami, who has been picked as the replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah, bowled a brilliant last over in the warm-up match against Australia when the hosts needed only 11 runs. He nailed the yorkers quite well, picked up three wickets, giving away only four runs to ensure a six-run victory for India.
{{/usCountry}}Shami, who has been picked as the replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah, bowled a brilliant last over in the warm-up match against Australia when the hosts needed only 11 runs. He nailed the yorkers quite well, picked up three wickets, giving away only four runs to ensure a six-run victory for India.
{{/usCountry}}Shami had joined the Indian squad in Brisbane a couple of nights ago after regaining his fitness following a Covid-19 positive test that kept him out of action for more than a couple of weeks.
"Thank you everyone for your love and support. The hard work is paying off. Just feels great to be back on the field, playing for #TeamIndia. Onwards and upwards," tweeted Shami.
Shami was not in the field for the major part of Australia's chase but came on to bowl the last over. Explaining the reasons behind it, India captain Rohit Sharma said the team management wanted to give a 'challenge' to the veteran right-arm seamer.
"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," Rohit said.
India will next play New Zealand in another warm-up match at the same venue on Wednesday and Rohit will be hoping to get four overs out of Shami to keep him ready for the Super 12 match against Pakistan on October in Melbourne.