Indian pacer Mohammed Shami will be Australia’s biggest threat feels former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar. India have a five-man pace attack against Australia in the upcoming series and Gavaskar feels Shami is the most potent threat to the opposition.
Incidentally, Shami was a big reason for India’s Test series win down under in their last tour. The fast bowler, who hails from Bengal, picked 16 wickets in that tour. Sunil Gavaskar showered heaps of praise on the Indian pacer ahead of the start of the series.
Talking to Sportstar, former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar revealed what makes Mohammed Shami the most important threat for the opposition batsmen.
“Mohammed Shami in particular has a fabulous bouncer. If he gets it right on target, then you can be pretty certain that not too many batsmen will be able to negotiate him,” Gavaskar told Sportstar.
Mohammed Shami Has a Good Bouncer – Sunil Gavaskar
The cricketer-turned-commentator further said that Shami bowls a well-directed bouncer and will be a difficult bowler to negotiate if he gets his rhythm right.
“He is not very tall and his short ball will come skidding at you around your shoulder and head, and that’s the most difficult delivery to play. If his rhythm is right, he will not be an easy bowler to play,” Gavaskar added.
Sunil Gavaskar further said that Shami can cause problems to Steve Smith by his bouncers. The former Australian skipper had a hard time dealing with bouncers against Jofra Archer in the last Ashes series.
Earlier, Smith had challenged the Indian bowlers to bowl bouncers at him saying he has played a lot of bouncers in his career and isn’t bothered by it anymore.
“If teams are trying to get me out like that it’s probably a big benefit for the team because it takes a lot out of people’s bodies if you continually bowl short. I’ve faced a lot of short bowling in my life and I haven’t had too many stresses with it. I suppose we’ll just wait and see,” Smith had said.
India will play 4 Tests, 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is against Australia. The first ODI will take place on Friday in Sydney. The Test series starts from December 17 in Adelaide which marks India’s first Pink-Ball Test overseas.
