Shami's fine form brings problem of plenty for Kohli in bowling dept

There is something about Mohammed Shami and world cups. Just two matches into the ongoing Cricket World Cup, Shami has made an instant impact. He, yet again, delivered another four-wicket haul against the West Indies on Thursday; his early damage in the first powerplay ensuring that the rivals could never really come back into the game. In 2015 World Cup, too, Shami had revealed his destructive side, scalping 17 wickets from seven matches, and went on to become one of the most successful bowlers then.

Six games into the World Cup tourney, it is India’s bowling that has looked superlative, compared to its batting. The strong bowling unit has even papered over the issue of India’s wobbling middle order.

Team India will go into the next match against England on Sunday with the confidence that they have a bowling unit which is at its incisive best. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is expected to be fit and available for selection to the playing eleven by the next match on June 30 in Birmingham. It remains to be seen whether Bhuvneshwar will be able to retain his original spot in the side given the way Shami has bowled so brilliantly in his absence.

Bhuvneshwar was ruled out of the last two matches as he was nursing a tightness in his left hamstring that he suffered during India's match against Pakistan. He has recovered enough to bowl full tilt in the nets at the Old Trafford. Conditions have not demanded the use of three seamers yet for India. The Edgbaston wicket where India meets England next is unlikely to be a 'fastish' side either.

Shami's 4-16 at the Old Trafford on Thursday was preceded by 4-40 against Afghanistan, including a hat-trick, in his first match of this World Cup. On Thursday, though, bowling in tandem with his new ball partner Jasprit Bumrah, Shami first bowled a short one which gripped the surface forcing Gayle at 6 to mistime a pull shot to Kedar Jadav instead.

Shami later revealed that having played against Gayle a lot the plan was to not allow him to free his arms. “Chris Gayle and I were together during the IPL. Once you play, you get an idea. The one thing that I thought was that if I didn’t allow him to open his arms, then it would be good because at some stage, he would go for it,” said Shami after the match. He then accounted for the promising Shai Hope and Shemron Hetmeyer and sealed India’s victory with the wicket of Oshaine Thomas at the end.

Shami at this World Cup is bowling fast consistently, hitting the right lengths and lines regularly and also inducing just that slight amount of movement in conditions that have not really been helpful for any. He revealed that losing weight and getting fitter has helped his bowling a lot.

Earlier, Team India strength and conditioning coach Shankar Basu had revealed that failing the yo-yo fitness test two years ago had proved to be a wake up call for the 28-year-old Shami. “I failed (the yo-yo test), that’s true. But the one thing is, I have improved my fitness a lot. I am in my comfort zone, I have lost weight, my rhythm is good. Everything is going well. I am trying to ensure that the rhythm, the diet that I have been following, I maintain it. The moment I lost weight, I found a rhythm for myself, there is a good feeling. Along with that, you feel a force, there is less tiredness, so obviously the speed will increase,” Shami said.

The pacer, who originally hails from Amroha in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, said he backed his skills enough to be ready to perform when asked. "As far as the skill is concerned, I have full faith in myself that whatever be the wicket, I can express my abilities. I have always had confidence in my skills whenever I come onto the field and whenever I have been given responsibility, I have been successful in fulfilling that.”

Displaying a fine sense of humour and frankness, Shami, when asked who he would credit with for his present super-fine avatar, said he would give the credit to himself. “I think I would credit myself as I was the one who had to work hard to overcome my problems and be fitter and better.. I was the one who went through the issues.”