Watch: Shami left speechless after Gill sitter denies India pacer 2 in 2; Shubman redeems himself two overs later
Shami would have had a fourth wicket as well, but a missed opportunity from Shubman Gill at slip denied him the wicket and left him speechless.
India made a superb comeback in the opening match of the three-game ODI series against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. Australia made a dominating start after being put to bat first, scoring 129 for three in the first 20 overs before being bundled out with 14.2 overs to spare. Mohammed Siraj provided the early breakthrough before it was all about Mohammed Shami who rattled through the Australian middle order line-up with his economical three-fer which restricted the tourists to just 188. (India vs Australia 1st ODI live score)
Shami would have had a fourth as well, but a missed opportunity from Shubman Gill at slip denied him the wicket and left him speechless.
It happened in the 30th over of the match when Shami dished out a length ball outside off and got to move it away from the batter. Marcus Stoinis poked at it and got the thick outside edge. The ball went straight towards the slip region, at a comfortable height but it bounced off Gill's hands and fell on the ground. Shami was left utterly shocked at the missed opportunity of getting two in two , having dismissed Cameron Green in the previous ball, while Gill nodded his head in disappointment.
However, the youngster redeemed himself an over later when Shami returned to attack for his final over. It was Stoinis once again at strike. Shami went with a back of the length delivery, outside off and Stoinis pushed at it to get an outside edge again and Gill made no mistake then.
In the very next over, Gill picked another as well, against a delivery from Mohammed Siraj to complete the dismissal of Sean Abbot, who went back for a seven-ball duck.
Siraj picked the final wicket in his next over, dismissing last man Adam Zampa for a duck as Australia were bundled for just 188, their lowest ever ODI score batting first in India.
"There is a lot of hard work involved, you have to work on your fitness. You have to work hard in the nets. When you have the rhythm and the bounce and seam position is good, you get the results. There’s always good bounce on the Mumbai wickets. I bowled in the good areas and got the rewards. I planned with Hardik to keep one slip in place. The ball was moving a bit and the idea was to keep bowling in the tight off stump channel," Shami said of his bowling after Australia's innings.
