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Cricket Players'Ego hurt ho raha tha': Shami comes up with epic response to Axar's 'told you to show patience' remark after Nagpur Test
Roped in by Axar Patel for a freewheeling conversation after the Nagpur Test, Mohammed Shami was asked about his batting exploits against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener.
From rattling David Warner to playing an entertaining cameo with the bat, Indian pacer Mohammed Shami had an eventful outing in the recently concluded encounter between India and Australia at Nagpur. Leading the pace attack of Rohit Sharma and Co. in the absence of ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, speed merchant Shami picked up three crucial wickets on a turning pitch that favoured Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Interestingly, Shami overshadowed premier batters KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav with the bat in the first and only Indian innings of the Nagpur Test. The talented tailender played a memorable knock of 37 off 47 balls. Playing a perfect second fiddle to an on-song Axar Patel, pacer Shami smashed 37 off 47 balls as Team India managed to post a match-winning total in the series opener of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Roped in by Axar for a freewheeling conversation after the Nagpur Test, Shami spoke at length about his memorable partnership with the lower-order batter. “You came in with such confidence, what were you thinking?,” asked Axar in a video shared by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). “I was given a role, I was told to bat as long as I could. They told me to be patient but that did not happen,” Shami said.
Axar then tried to school Shami for snubbing his advice and playing attacking cricket against the Aussies. “I kept telling you to play slowly, and you kept hitting sixes,” said Axar, who played a gritty knock of 84 off 174 balls in the Nagpur Test. In his witty response, Shami joked that all-rounder Axar bruised his ego a little by advising him to play a patient knock against Australia.
“My ego was getting hurt (laughs). I try to bat as long as possible and stop the bowler from picking my wicket, and try to take as much responsibility as I can. And we also learn from you guys, about how to play some shots. My mindset was also just to stick around with you for as long as I could and will try to do the same in the future as well,” Shami added.
Putting a price on his wicket, Shami stunned the Aussies with his sizzling knock. Batting at a strike rate of 78.72, Shami smashed 2 fours and smoked 3 sixes. The Indian pacer's batting heroics also helped him in surpassing veteran batter Kohli. For the record, pacer Shami has smashed more sixes (25) than run machine Kohli (24) in the longest and oldest format of the game. Shami has scored 722 runs in 61 Test matches for India. The 32-year-old has picked up 219 in the whites for the Asian giants.
