It’s amazing how often Mohammed Shami or other Indian pacers end up as the most impressive bowlers in home conditions despite all the focus and talk around the spinners. Even though it shouldn’t surprise anyone anymore, it still does, every time a Shami, an Umesh Yadav or a Mohammed Siraj picks up more wickets than a Ravichandran Ashwin or a Ravindra Jadeja. The Day 1 of the second India vs Australia Test in Delhi was one of the ‘surprising days’. Shami not only was India’s most impressive bowler on a slow, low Kotla track but was also the one with the most wickets.
The right-arm pacer picked up four wickets for only 60 runs to help India bowl Australia out for 263 after they opted to bat first. Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul made sure the hosts don’t lose any wickets and reached a score of 21. After the day’s play, Shami explained how it is sort of ‘inevitable’ for the visiting teams to get bowled out against a relentless all-round Indian bowling attack.
“We, as a team don’t depend on the toss. We don’t bother about it at all. It doesn’t matter what happens at the toss. Whatever we get first, we try to perform. We stay in that frame of mind. All out toh har jagah hi kia hai. Pahle bhi kia tha. Age bhi karenge. India mein all out hona hi hai, hum nahi karenge toh spinners kar denge. (We’ve bowled out the opposition everywhere. We will do it again in the future. If not the pacers, the spinners will bowl the opposition out),” Shami said in the press conference on Friday.
At the start of the innings, Shami relentlessly targetted the good length area that helped him get rid of David Warner. Towards the end of the innings, Shami got the ball to reverse and ended up cleaning the tail with the wickets of Nathan Lyon and debutant Matthew Kuhnemann.
The likes of Shami and Mohammad Siraj have been equally lethal in home conditions. The 32-year-old from Amroha put the pacers’ success in India down to their toil in domestic cricket.
“We all have come from domestic cricket. All the fast bowlers have done well and they know how to exploit the home conditions. It won’t be right to say the Indian conditions are more suited to spinners or pacers.
“Even recently in domestic cricket, pacers have done well. Focus should be on line and length and maintaining pace. With that you can succeed in all conditions. Even on Indian wickets there is enough. Kuch nai toh reverse milega (if not anything else, you will get reverse swing),” he said with a hearty laugh.
Asked how the pitch is behaving from both ends, he said: “There is not a lot of difference. Indian wickets are on the slower side but there is still enough for the pacers.”
