Shami equally effective with short bursts
With India relying more on spin on Dubai’s slow pitches, the pacer’s task has been to get wickets in Champions Trophy
Dubai: Mohammed Shami is India’s highest wicket-taker in the Champions Trophy with eight scalps. That’s par for the course. In ICC white-ball events, Shami has been India’s most consistent bowler. The pitches in Dubai have been slow and spin-friendly, but Shami has found ways to keep picking wickets.
A lot of it is down to Shami’s desire to excel. When Shami, 34, missed his fitness battle to make it to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, people wondered if the bowler, sidelined after the 2023 World Cup, would ever make it back after ankle and knee injuries, leave alone hit peak form and fitness.
“God has been kind, I am working hard,” he said after his 3 wickets helped India beat Australia in the Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai on Tuesday.
The ace pacer believes he is gradually getting his rhythm back. Return from injury can be one long, winding road. Only a bowler would know if there were any missing links.
In Jasprit Bumrah’s absence, Shami is India’s frontline pacer. Also, with India having altered their bowling plans, relying heavily on spin, it has added to his workload. In the last ODI World Cup, Shami was one of three specialist fast bowlers. Here, India began with two and all-rounder Hardik Pandya but have now left it to Shami and Hardik to share the pace duties to make room for four spinners.
“The load does go up because you are having only one fast bowler and an all-rounder. So, you just have to pick up the wickets. You have to be at the forefront,” he said. “But then I have become used to taking a load. I try to make it easier for others by giving more than 100 percent.”
Fast bowling in the middle overs requires an astute approach. Like in the semi-final when Steve Smith was coasting on 73 with Australia in sight of 300-plus. That’s when Shami slipped in a full toss at pace to bowl Smith. “If you look at Smith’s past record, he has been bowled 4-5 times off a full toss,” he said. “The plan was to bowl full and fast. As the wicket is slow, the batter is not expecting that. Luckily, it hit the target.”
Shami then utilised yorkers and slower balls to keep the batters in check. The experienced pacer may have even got a fraction of reverse swing going, bowling in the afternoon.
He though spoke up for his fraternity about what they have been missing. “We try to get the ball to reverse. But they are not allowing the use of saliva. I am making an appeal to re-introduce use of saliva, then the fun of reverse-swing will be back,” he stated.
With or without saliva, Shami will work diligently on the ball to see if he can reverse swing the ball at high speeds. To somehow find a way to breakthroughs, even if he has to bowl one or two-over spells in the middle phase of the innings. That’s how Rohit Sharma used Shami against Australia so that he could keep his main pacer in play through the course of the innings. “The poor captain is always looking for wickets. As a frontline bowler, your responsibility is to bowl in good areas,” Shami said.
Working with the new ball is Shami territory. When he gets his lengths right, the ball usually obeys his command. He almost got Travis Head out first ball, but the return catch, to his right, did not stick. Rookie opener Cooper Connolly was all at sea against Shami’s around the wicket accuracy.
As for putting in the hard yards, that’s never been a problem with Shami. “Jahan tak load ka sawal hai, mazdoor aadmi hai, aadat hai (as far as taking load is concerned, I am a worker, so used to hard labour),” he said laughing.
