The Indian pacer Mohammed Shami was adjudged as the Player of the Match for his superb bowling performance in the first ODI of the 3-match series against Australia. The match was played yesterday at Mohali and after winning the toss, the stand-in skipper KL Rahul decided to bowl first. The visitors managed to put a score of 276 runs in their 50 overs but the hosts chased it successfully in 49 overs and won the match by 5 wickets.
Mohammed Shami ended the match with wonderful figures of 5/51 in 10 overs and what makes it more special is the fact that Shami hasn’t played much cricket in the last 2-3 months but he looked in great rhythm and control. When Shami was asked about his good rhythm despite being on break, the pacer said that he always has rhythm whenever he comes back from break but it was really important for him to take that break because he was playing continuously for 7-8 months and his mind was telling him to take a break. He added that he had a discussion with the skipper and the coach and he took rest for the West Indies tour but as he has an elaborate set up at his home, he ended up training more than what he used to do when he is with the Indian team.
Talking about the Indian batting, Mohammed Shami said that when one team plays against a good team before a big event, it is important for them to get runs as it increasess confidence and the same is the case with Suryakumar Yadav who was not able to score but he scored today and it will help him in the future.
On the question of bowling small spells, Mohammed Shami says that not much has been discussed about it as it all depends on the situation and conditions. He says there are times when a bowler bowls six overs continuously and there are times when he bowls three as it also depends on how good you are bowling and how the partnership of bowlers is going on. Shami says that heat also plays a role in it as the bowlers are also humans and it affects their stamina but when a player is playing at international level for a long time, these things don’t affect much.
Mohammed Shami also praises the rotation policy as it helps the players in remaining fit especially when the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 is coming up. He says that from the last 7-8 years, the current Indian pacers are bowling in partnership and today when he (Shami) was getting wickets, Bumrah was also not giving runs and their partnership helped them in getting results. Shami is of the opinion that luck also plays a good role in the end and today it was his day.
He concluded by saying that he did nothing special, he just tried to bowl at good length, top off the stump and waited for the batter to make a mistake.
Well played India!!!