On day 3 of the first test match of India against Bangladesh, Virat Kohli used his fast bowlers for 23 overs in a stretch. This happened for the first time since 2001, which underlines the dominance of the fast bowlers. Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami were rampant, ruthless and blew Bangladesh away. Speaking at the end of the day's proceedings, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar and Gautam Gambhir hailed the seamers and singled out Shami for his impact.
"Shami has shown that if you keep that seam position up and if you get the ball to move around off the pitch, you will get wickets," Gavaskar told official broadcasters at the end of match. "If he is given the new ball, who knows India might start to get early wickets."
"Way back in 1983, despite having Andy Roberts and Michael Holding in the team, Clive Llyod gave the new ball to Malcolm Marshall and he picked 30 wickets because he had that ability," he further added.
Gavaskar also said that Shami is much like Malcolm Marshall, in the way that his delivery comes back in and gets late movement. "Mohammed Shami is like Malcolm Marshall is some sense. His delivery also comes at you like a missile. Same kind of late inward and outward movement. Very very difficult to negotiate," the legendary opener added.
Colour does not matter to Shami
Gambhir also agreed with Gavaskar and said that Shami is by far the best red-ball bowler in the world. "At the moment, colour doesn't matter to him. Give him the yellow ball... give him the pink ball... he is going to be the leader of the attack. He probably is the best red-ball bowler in the world," Gambhir told the host broadcasters.
Such was Shami's performance in Indore, that he has now broken into the top 10 and is now at Number 7 among the bowlers with 790 rating points. This is the third-best for an India pacer after Kapil Dev (877) and Jasprit Bumrah (832).
"The more we get tired, the better fun we have. We push each other. We try to enjoy each other's success. There are certain things I cannot even say. The team management has given us freedom. I bowl alongside Ishant and Umesh as well. That makes it easier for me. I focus on my length and have been able to execute it well," Shami said after the match.
