He bowled at 'temperature of 102' on debut: Ex-coach makes huge revelation about Shami; 'There were never any doubts'

Mohammed Shami took eight wickets in the Centurion Test including a five-wicket haul in the first innings.

Team India registered an emphatic 113-run victory over South Africa in the first Test of the three-match series in Centurion. It was an all-round performance from the Indian team with pacers leading the charge, and Mohammed Shami was the pick of the fast bowlers with eight wickets in the game. Shami also took a five-wicket haul in the first innings and reached 200 dismissals in the longest format of the game during the feat.

India's Mohammed Shami celebrates taking the wicket of South Africa's Aiden Markram. (REUTERS)

Indian Test captain Virat Kohli termed Shami as one of the top-three seamers in the world as he lauded the pacer in the post-match presentation and former India cricketer WV Raman, who worked with Shami during the former's stint as coach of Bengal in 2010, praised the attitude of the star bowler.

“In terms of attitude, there were never any doubts. To cut a long story short, I’ve seen him bowl flat out, in the last session of the last day, with a 60-over-old ball, while he was running a temperature of 102. This was in his debut game. You didn’t need anything further to tell you what kind of attitude that boy had,” Raman told News18.

“Before Shami made his Ranji debut, I was pushing hard for him to play for Bengal. To that end, I even went to the extent of saying that from the day you make him play Ranji Trophy, within 18 months he will play for the country. And that it happened to a T, so I did not end up with egg on my face.”

“The other thing about him was that he did not relish the kind of training other fast bowlers do: running around the ground or hitting the gym. His method of training was bowling for one and a half or two hours. He would not compromise on his effort in those sessions. That’s another thing about him that stood out,” said the former Bengal coach.