Shami aims to fill gap left by Bumrah

Pacer was the last player to be added to the squad. To India’s Cup dreams though, he means much more

MELBOURNE: “Bowling Lala!” Rahul Dravid makes himself heard. Standing cross-armed, he watches intently as Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami whizz past him. On strike is Rohit Sharma, ferocious puller and an equally silken driver. He isn’t batting full throttle, but Shami is bowling full tilt. There isn’t any warm-up ball even though it’s an optional training session. First ball, on good length, Sharma carefully lets it pass but has his eyes peeled on it. Next ball, Shami is quicker, forcing Sharma into a shot. Dravid can’t help but let out that chirp. This isn’t the Dravid of yore, standing at slip, hands heavily taped and waiting for that edge. This is Dravid the coach, on his first big assignment, at the T20 World Cup, without Jasprit Bumrah, seeking an alternative. Shami seems to be the one, at least the closest possible replacement.

The run-up’s decidedly longer, compared to Arshdeep or the other local bowlers at least. And Shami keeps at it for 45 minutes at a stretch, much longer than his T20 quota, closer to the ODI one, more like a Test spell. He cranks up the pace, hitting the good length again and again, almost by default. Back to his mark, Shami relaxes his shoulders, breathes in and steams in. He isn’t treating this as just another training session. He has had too many of them, in his backyard at Amroha, at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. You got to understand the psyche of a fast bowler sitting out of the team but asked to keep hitting a single stump in the nets, day after day. He doesn’t want to simulate. He wants the real deal.

Shami is almost there. In the space of a week, he has gone from backup option to India’s only other option apart from Bhuvneshwar Kumar in slog overs after

Bumrah was ruled out by a problematic back. And then, in Gabba, in the space of six balls, Shami let the world know he hasn’t forgotten the art of defending. It is what Shami has once again established going into the heat of an India-Pakistan clash, leaving a wreckage of four Australian wickets in his wake, two of them clean bowled by near-perfect yorkers. He could always bowl fast. Back in the day when he used to bowl for Town Club in the CAB divisional league in Kolkata, Shami’s versatility with the old ball earned him extra credits too. There was the bouncer as well. And then in the last five years or so came his yorker.

What must be appreciated is that the Shami of 2022 is nothing like the Shami of 2019 or 2015. He keeps evolving and learning while managing his workload. The knees haven’t been faithful. Life has been a roller coaster ride on the personal front, for which his central contract was almost held back. He hasn’t come out of it unscathed but where Shami has really impressed is in not letting any of that affect his bowling. There was a lull after being the quickest Indian to 50 ODI wickets, followed by an almost self-imposed exile after a superb 2015 World Cup. While the next generation focused on T20Is, Shami went back to the basics of running in hard and bowling quick, delivering long spells in Test cricket.

That devotion to Test cricket helped Shami evolve into a better white-ball cricketer. And then there was the hard-nosed clarity that he brought to his game irrespective of what he endured personally. Bowl, rest, bowl again — you can’t go too wrong if you stick to that routine day in and day out. It may seem Shami’s career has petered out into the monotony of Test cricket but this year has been remarkably good for him in other formats too. Winning the IPL with Gujarat Titans—he finished as their highest wicket-taker with 20 scalps—was a gentle reminder to whoever thought Shami wasn’t in sync with the demands of T20 cricket.

And then, in July, he became the fastest to 150 ODI wickets for India — in his 80th match, comfortably breaking Ajit Agarkar’s record of 97 games — in what was his first ODI since November 2020. This was barely 10 days after Shami lined up the England side to be taken down by Bumrah in the solitary Test. Remember that day when Shami kept beating the edge of Zak Crawley, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow? Bumrah got three wickets, Mohammed Siraj removed Root but it was Shami doing the legwork all the while.

That is another trait of Shami — quietly working out a batter for another bowler to pluck him out. There are plenty of instances of that in the past. This time though, there is no Bumrah, it’s all Shami. Maybe it’s providence. Maybe it’s finally time for Shami to be at his singular best. He has always had the required bearings — an uncomplicated run-up, a proper load-up, dream seam and wrist positions that combine to generate disconcerting pace and just the right movement to leave the batter in two minds. Shami is back, and as luck would have had it, as India’s only genuine quick bowler for a World Cup in Australia. On paper, he is the 15th member of the squad, almost an afterthought. To India’s World Cup dreams though, Shami means much more.