Senior Indian pacer Mohammed Shami just lately grabbed headlines together with his sensible final over throughout India’s slender six-run win over Australia of their warm-up recreation at The Gabba on Monday (October 17).
Notably, Shami, who was picked into the Indian workforce as a alternative for injured Jasprit Bumrah, didn’t get to bowl for the primary 19 overs. The precise-arm seamer was given the duty of delivering the ultimate over, and he returned with 1-0-4-3.
There isn’t any doubt that within the absence of Bumrah, Shami will lead the assault in India’s opening fixture in opposition to arch-rivals Pakistan on the iconic Melbourne Cricket Floor on October 23. The skilled speedster has an arduous job, having final performed a T20I throughout the 2021 version of the T20 World Cup.
Whereas all eyes can be on Shami forward of the mouth-watering conflict, former Indian all-rounder Suresh Raina has opined that Shami isn’t an ideal alternative for Bumrah as a result of gamers like him are extraordinarily uncommon.
“I might not name him an ideal alternative since you can’t change Jasprit Bumrah or Ravindra Jadeja. They’ve performed persistently for India, and so they have given performances,” Raina advised NDTV.
Nonetheless, Raina was fast so as to add that among the many obtainable choices, i.e. Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur, Shami was the most suitable choice.
“However the most suitable choice you had, you’ve chosen him. Shami has given good performances, he has been in good type. BCCI have executed very well in sending the workforce to Australia 15 days previous to the match. The grounds are huge, general I feel the preparation has been good. We might want to play fearless cricket and present good intent,” added Raina.
India squad for T20 World Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vc), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Md Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh