Questioning Mohammad Shami’s damage administration, former greats Ravi Shastri and Ricky Ponting really feel the veteran pacer may have tilted the sequence in India’s favour had he been added to the squad within the second half of the five-match Border-Gavaskar sequence.
India’s decade-long stranglehold on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ended after they went down by six wickets in Sydney to lose the sequence 1-3.
The pacer, after recovering from an ankle damage, returned to motion for his residence state Bengal and impressed in all of the three codecs — Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 and Vijay Hazare one-dayers –, elevating hopes of a late inclusion.
However he was formally dominated out earlier than the fourth Check in Melbourne with the BCCI medical staff citing a knee swelling, although each Ponting and Shastri imagine a visit to Australia and a return late within the sequence may have been pushed.
“To be honest, I was very surprised with the communication going on in the media as to what exactly happened to Mohammed Shami,” the previous Indian head coach said in The ICC Evaluation.
“Where is he when it comes to recovery? He’s been sitting in the NCA for I don’t know how long. Why can’t proper communication come out on where he stands? A player of his ability, I would have brought him to Australia.
“Absolutely, there’s no question about that (Shami could have tilted the series in Melbourne or Sydney),” Shastri added.
The 62-year-old additional stated it will have been useful if Shami had, not less than, travelled with the group in Australia.
“I would have kept him part of the team and made sure that his rehabilitation was done with the team,” stated Shastri.
“And then if we thought by the third Test match that no, this guy can’t play the rest of the series, I would let him go. But I would have brought him with the team, kept him, monitored him with the best of the physios and best of the advice even from international physios who are in Australia and seeing how he went. But I would have kept him in the mix.”
Shastri believes the quick bowler may have supplied sufficient assist to Jasprit Bumrah, who too struggled with health on the finish of the sequence and couldn’t bowl within the second innings of the Sydney Check.
Ravi Shastri believes Mohammed Shami may have supplied sufficient assist to Jasprit Bumrah, who too struggled with health on the finish of the sequence and couldn’t bowl within the second innings of the Sydney Check.
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Ravi Shastri believes Mohammed Shami may have supplied sufficient assist to Jasprit Bumrah, who too struggled with health on the finish of the sequence and couldn’t bowl within the second innings of the Sydney Check.
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“It got so tight at 1-1 going into Melbourne,” he stated.
“You just needed that experience and support. For all you know, he might have raised the bar as well. And it would have been the two guys there (Bumrah and Shami).
“Pat Cummins couldn’t have done it on his own, Scotty Boland had to step in. So you needed a bowler of his experience. You know, as hard as Mohammed Siraj tried, you needed Shami’s experience there.”
Echoing Shastri’s views, Australian World Cup-winning captain Ponting stated: “I was really surprised when he wasn’t flown out even halfway through the series, two Test matches in.” “India’s make-up obviously had Nitish Reddy there. So you had another seam bowling all-rounder anyway.
“So, if Shami, even if he wasn’t fully fit, if he had to bowl fewer overs in a day, you had a backup seam bowling option to help him out and I think he could have been the difference.
“When you asked me (in an earlier The ICC Review) at the start about what I thought the result would be, I said 3-1 Australia because Shami wasn’t there. That was the first thing I said. That’s how important I felt he was to India.
“If Shami, Bumrah and Siraj were in their starting team, I think things could have been completely different here in Australia.” Shami is at the moment enjoying within the home one-dayers for the Vijay Hazare Trophy and it stays to be seen if he’s included for the England residence sequence forward of the ICC Champions Trophy in February.
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Author : admin
Publish date : 2025-01-07 06:31:23
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