“If I have to use one word for Shami it will be ‘Torture Shami’,” says Dinesh Karthik
Team India has one of the world’s greatest bowling assaults. An example of this was on exhibit on Day 1 and 3 of the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test match in Nagpur versus Australia.
Rise! Before the sun sets #practice #gearingup #mdshami11 #neverstop #cricketer #indiancricket pic.twitter.com/3VnwDEDwdv
— 𝕸𝖔𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖉 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖎 (@MdShami11) February 14, 2023
The game was won with support by India’s seasoned bowler Mohammed Shami, who took three wickets. The veteran seamer may not dominate on India’s spinner-friendly conditions, but his unrivalled length and line have yielded results in countless international matches over the years. Senior India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik thinks Shami is one of the greatest attacking bowler and has termed Mohammed Shami ‘Torture’ and ‘unplayable’. He went on to say that “legends” like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma “hated” playing Shami.
It was a brilliant show by the entire team here in Nagpur. Onto Delhi next.
🇮🇳 #INDvAUS #mdshami #mdshami11 #teamindia pic.twitter.com/Egzmts1U1s
— 𝕸𝖔𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖉 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖎 (@MdShami11) February 11, 2023
“If I have to use one word for Shami it will be ‘Torture Shami’. Because in my whole career, he is the toughest bowler I have faced in the nets, he has got me out a couple of times as well in the match. But he has been nasty to play in the nets. I thought I was the only one so then I asked Kohli, Rohit, and they are all legends of the game and they all said they hate playing Shami,” Karthik told reporters.
A fine start to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. There is no better feeling than bowling with the shiny red ball and helping my team. Long way to go! Thank you for you support. #mdshami11 #mdshami #india #cricket #teamindia pic.twitter.com/28GxdcDT03
— 𝕸𝖔𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖉 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖎 (@MdShami11) February 9, 2023
Karthik went on to claim that Mohammed Shami is sometimes unlucky and especially dangerous because of the length of his bowling rather than only his “upright seam position.”
“What makes him so special is – all of his strength come into play in net session, his upright seam position, his natural length, that nasty length of 6-8 metre mark, where the two major mode of dismissals are caught behind or caught at slip. And you can see why he has been unlucky over a period of time as well because that length says that he gets the batsman beaten numerous times but never gets that wicket. He has travelled overseas in series where he constantly ended up being the bad bowler because he is the bowler got gets most deliveries beaten, but never the amount of wickets to show for,” he explained.
However, he labelled the seamer “unlucky” since his length necessitates a caught-behind or caught at slip in the majority of situations. Karthik believes that his deadly deliveries may easily defeat batters but do not always result in a wicket. Karthik believes the issue has hurt Shami’s success in several away series since his bowling skill does not correspond to his wicket total.
India dominated the Test from the start to finish.
Terrific start to the #BorderGavaskarTrophy!#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/iGhQtfgQM4— DK (@DineshKarthik) February 11, 2023
He further added, “He has travelled overseas in series where he constantly ended up being the bad bowler because he is the bowler got gets most deliveries beaten. For a fast bowler, the revs are close to 1000 rpm when the ball is released, but for Shami it is close to 1500-1600. That is what makes him special. When you have that amount of backs-spin, when there is little bit of the wicket, he is literally unplayable.”
Shami has been an important part of Team India in all forms since he first joined the team in 2013. The right-arm fast has played 61 Tests and 87 ODIs, taking 219 and 159 wickets respectively. He has also played in 23 Twenty20 Internationals, taking 24 wickets.
