Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has said that Mohammad Shami’s upright seam position allows him to follow a similar approach in both longer format and limited-overs cricket. However, Shami is part of the 17-member Indian squad for the ongoing Asia Cup where India will open their campaign with a much-awaited Group A clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in Pallekele on Saturday, September 2.
During a discussion on Star Sports, Gambhir said: “Shami can say this thing because he has that quality. Shami has that seam position. Probably no other bowler might be so relaxed or going in with such a simple game plan. He knows that if his seam hits the pitch, whether it is the white ball or the red ball, the ability this bowler has, Mohammad Shami can nick off or bowl out any batter on his day.”
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However, Shami has picked up 162 wickets at an excellent strike rate of 27.8 in 89 ODI innings as well. He has picked up a five-wicket haul and nine four-wicket hauls, with a best of 5/69 against England in the 2019 World Cup as well.
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“When you have an ability like that, you don’t complicate things too much and don’t think too much. When you think too much, you try to do different things. You can check Mohammad Shami’s game plan in the IPL as well. He bowls Test match length in the first six overs and if he comes to bowl at the death, then yorkers. It is not that he bowls slower cutters or slower bouncers. He doesn’t have any variations like that because he has that quality. If he didn’t have that quality, he would have needed the other variations,” Gautam Gambhir concluded.
