India pacer Mohammad Shami returned to the ODI fold recently against England after almost two years when he played against Australia in November 2020 in Sydney. And he made his return a triumphant one by helping Jasprit Bumrah demolish England in the first ODI at the Oval.
The duo played a key role in India's 10-wicket win as they ran through the England top-order, who were eventually packed for 110 in just 25.2 overs. Such was the impact that four of the England batters - Jason Roy, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Liam Livingstone - returned to the pavilion with ducks against their name.
While Jasprit Bumrah picked his career-best 6/19, Shami contributed with 3/31 and Prasidh Krishna picked the one remaining wicket. Then Rohit Sharma’s 76* and Shikhar Dhawan's 31* chased the target down in just 18.2 overs to help India win by 10 wickets.
Following the conclusion of the match, Shami was asked about his return to the national side in the 50-over format by India's bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, who referred to it as a “small break” and it left the pacer in splits.
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“It was not a small break but three years,” said Shami as the duo shared a laugh.
Meanwhile, Shami also completed 150 wickets in the ODI format, becoming the fastest Indian to reach the milestone in 80 ODIs and the fourth fastest overall.
When asked about how he prepared for the match, Shami said that he backed his skills and self-belief, which he feels is important for every player playing at this level.
"Nothing was going on in my head regarding the gap. I've become very comfortable with the team, we travel together, have been playing together for like a decade now. Everyone knows their job and after playing so much of cricket if you come with a question mark in your head then I believe it's not good.
It's extremely important to come with a clear mind as you already know what you need to do, where you need to pitch the ball, the variations in white-ball and everyone knows these basics. But you need to be courageous and if you are that then you can get set in any format at any given moment,” the pacer added.
Here is the video shared by BCCI of Shami in conversation:
