Former England fast bowler Steve Harmison said that Mohammed Shami is “more English” in terms of his gameplay than most of England’s bowlers and that he forms a lethal partnership with the lanky fast bowler, Ishant Sharma. Harmison said that Shami is similar to how he and Matthew Hoggard used to bowl in tandem. 

During a recent chat with ESPNCricinfo, Steve Harmison explained, “Shami I think is more English than some of the seamers that we’ve got in our team because he runs up, he’s got great core strength, a big backside, a bit like Matthew Hoggard and my time. We used to have big backsides, could really swing it away in and around off stump and I think Shami is a fine, fine bowler.”

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He further added, “With that, you’ve got somebody like Ishant who is 6 foot or 4 and Shami who is about 5 foot 10. One is bringing the ball back in, the other is taking it away. They complement each other a lot.” 

Steve Harmison also reckons that Ishant Sharma is the go-to man for the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli because of the way he can take the ball away from the batsman.

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Steve Harmison further elaborated, “You’ve got a tall bowler in Ishant who likes to get the ball going in nature and because he has such a nice seam position, he can at times roll his fingers a little bit and get the ball to nip away. So, that way, he’s very, very dangerous because you can be doubtful about where your off stump is. That’s why he is Virat’s go-to man as he can give him a lot of overs.”