Amidst a raging debate about whether India has an undue advantage playing at the same venue in the ongoing Champions Trophy, pace spearhead Mohammed Shami admitted that it makes things easy.
“It helps to be playing on one venue. You know about the conditions and how the pitch behaves. There are a lot of factors. Especially with the cold weather we have, you want to know even more. So you could see it’s a plus point that we are playing on the same venue,” said Shami after the semifinal against Australia.
Earlier, skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir scoffed at suggestions that India is getting favourable treatment by playing all its matches in Dubai. The Men in Blue did not get government permission to play in Pakistan, and a hybrid model has been put in place, in which India is playing all its matches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
In the semifinal, Shami (three for 48) took the important scalp of Australian skipper Steve Smith with a full toss and said it was a deliberate plan to bowl full to the latter.
Mohammed Shami celebrates the dismissal of Australia’s captain Steve Smith.
| Photo Credit:
AP
Mohammed Shami celebrates the dismissal of Australia’s captain Steve Smith.
| Photo Credit:
AP
“The plan was to focus on slower balls and yorkers. As far as Smith goes, if you look at his records, he has been bowled 4-5 times before to a full-toss. The plan was to bowl full and fast. As the wicket is slow, the batter is not expecting that. Luckily, it hit the target,” remarked the 34-year-old.
In the last two matches, the Bengal speedster has been the only frontline pacer in the squad and said he is happy to shoulder the added responsibility.
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“You just have to pick up wickets and be at the forefront. But then I have become used to it. I try to make it easier for others by giving more than 100 percent.” “I am used to hard labour,” Shami said in jest.
The pacer returned to international cricket earlier this year after spending over a year on the sidelines due to a heel injury, and he felt he was gradually regaining his rhythm.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, players cannot use saliva to polish one side of the ball while keeping the other rough to generate a reverse swing. Shami, however, requested that the decision be reversed to help bowlers.
“We try to get the ball to reverse but are not allowed to use saliva. I am making an appeal to re-introduce the use of saliva and then the fun of reverse-swing will be back,” he said.
