Indian pacer Mohammad Shami talked about his half-century in the Lord's Test match against England in 2021. He said that he always enjoys his batting and is not scared of short balls.
Shami played one of the best Test innings of his career when India locked horns against England at Lord’s in the second Test of the series last year. The pacer displayed sensational batting skills on the final day of the match and smashed a half-century to bail his side out of trouble.
India suffered a batting collapse in the second innings and it almost seemed that England will bundle out them for a low total. However, Mohammad Shami (56*) along with Jasprit Bumrah (34*) added 89* unbeaten runs and helped India gain enough lead to put a competitive target of 272 for Joe Root's England.
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Mohammed Siraj then picked four wickets and Bumrah returned with three scalps as England were bundled out for 120 and lost the Test match by 151 runs. Notably, Mohammad Shami smashed a six to bring up his half-century. This was his second fifty in Tests and second in England.
Speaking to India.com, Mohammad Shami said that he was never scared of facing short balls. He remarked that he has always enjoyed his batting and if he was scared of the short ball, he wouldn’t have scored a half-century in Lord’s Test against England.
“Let me tell you something. I was never scared of the short ball as many people thought it to be. I have always enjoyed my batting and I do try to contribute as much as possible with the bat and help the team. If I was scared of the short ball, I wouldn’t have scored that half-century at Lord’s. So I don’t think much about it," Mohammad Shami said.
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Shami lauded former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri, saying that his positivity rubbed on to the team, which stood out for him as well.
"Everybody knows about Ravi Shastri’s pep talk and he speaks just like you see him in the commentary box. There is not an iota of negativity in Ravi Shastri. His positivity rubbed on to the team and that is something that stood out for me," he said.
Mohammad Shami said that he enjoyed working with former Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun. He highlighted that he used to discuss the bowling plans with the latter, who shared his views and that worked for the team.
"It was great working with Bharat Arun when he was the bowling coach of India. At the international level, there is not much to learn in terms of the basics. It was all about discussing bowling plans and he shared his views and it worked really well for us and the team,” he said.
Mohammad Shami was India’s leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded Test series against South Africa. The right-arm pacer took 14 wickets in the three-match series. He has been rested for the upcoming home white-ball series against the West Indies, starting 6th February.
(India.com inputs)
