As India’s experienced paceman, Mohammad Shami, recognises his role in the setup very well and said he is always willing to share his knowledge with the team’s young speedsters.
Shami, who has played 50 Tests, 79 ODIs and 12 T20Is for India, will be making his comeback to the national side after a six-month injury layoff. The 30-year-old quick sustained a fracture on his bowling arm while batting in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia late last year. He subsequently missed the next three Tests on the tour and also the entire all-format series at home versus England.
While he was away from the scene, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and T Natarajan played Test cricket for India and made inspiring performances against the Aussies and the Englishmen. Therefore, Shami was all praise for India’s bench strength and said he hopes to pass on his wealth of expertise to the youngsters and play a quiet role in their journeys.
Shami said he knows he is not going to play forever and wants to make sure Indian cricket is always in capable hands.
“It comes automatically as after being in international cricket for so many years, I would like to share any input that the youngsters may want. I am not going to play forever, so it will be great if I can pass on something to the youngsters,”
Shami told Gulf News in an interview.
Shami also talked about the success of Virat Kohli’s team, of which he has been an integral part. India pulled off a memorable series victory in Australia earlier this year and followed that up by mostly dominating England at home.
Kohli’s men have reached the final of the World Test Championship (WTC), to be played in Southampton against New Zealand, after winning over West Indies and Australia away and also beating South Africa, Bangladesh and England at home.
Shami said he is confident that India will do well during the marquee summer in England coming up, where they’ll also face the hosts in a five-match Test series.
“We have played some extraordinary cricket in recent times as a unit and naturally, the confidence level is high on the eve of our departure for England. If we can reproduce some of the forms which we did over the last six months, I am confident it will be a great summer for us,”
he said.
The WTC final will be held at the Rose Bowl from June 18-22. India’s Test players will then stay back in the UK through July and play some intra-squad matches ahead of the England Test series, beginning August 4 at Trent Bridge.
Lord’s (August 12-16), Headingley (August 25-29), The Oval (September 2-6) and Manchester (September 10-14) will host the next four Test matches.
India will have a chance to make amends in England after facing drubbings on successive trips since their memorable series win in 2007 under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy.
Coming back to Shami, the speedster said past experiences have helped him overcome injury setbacks and that he did regain his rhythm playing for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the recently suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. Shami picked up eight wickets in as many games for PBKS with an economy rate of 8.16 before the tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 threat.
“The experience over the years has helped me learn to look after my body. I know how much training is needed, how to keep myself hydrated etc — all these factors must have also helped,”
he said.
“I do not believe in overthinking about what my approach will be (when asked about his strategy for England tour). I found my rhythm back in the IPL and the rest, of course, depends on the conditions,”
Shami added.
