Veteran Indian keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik believes that Team India are missing senior pacer Mohammed Shami in the ongoing Boxing Day Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park in Centurion. However, South African batters dominated the proceedings on Day 2, with opener Dean Elgar batting 140 as well. India managed to claim five wickets. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj picked up two wickets each, while debutant Prasidh Krishna claimed one scalp.
During a discussion on Cricbuzz, Karthik said: “The man has grown in stature as a bowler and as a leader of the pack. He is an able lieutenant to Jasprit Bumrah. You can imagine with the upright seam on this kind of pitch. I promise you, he would have definitely gotten a few wickets. The Indian team really misses him.”
However, Mohammed Shami was ruled out of the two-match Test series between India and South Africa due to an ankle injury as well. And, Dinesh Karthik added that while Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj bowled well on Day 2, they did not get enough support from Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur as well. Meanwhile, South Africa have taken an 11-run lead over India, finishing 256/5 at stumps on Day 2 as well.
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“Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna going for close to 118 runs in their 27 overs. On the other hand, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj going for just 111 in their 31 overs. Siraj was a tad bit expensive, especially in the last spell, they also bowled some brilliant balls. You could see every time they were on, you got the feeling that they could get you a wicket or two. Whereas with Shardul or Prasidh, you had to wait for a batter to make a mistake.”
On the other hand, former India head coach Ravi Shastri seemed unhappy as Rohit Sharma gave the ball to Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur in the second session. Dinesh Karthik also added that Sharma would have taken the call to manage the workload of premier pace bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
“It can be a bit unfair to Rohit Sharma to say that he had a bad day in terms of rotating bowlers. Did his team have a bad day? I definitely think so. Why he would have gone with that choice (starting the second session with Prasidh and Shardul) is because if he had burnt Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj out, it would have been harder, knowing that there was a longer day at play,” Dinesh Karthik concluded.
