We didn’t get the kind of tracks we expected: Shami

NEW DELHI: The pitches in Nagpur and Delhi have not been exactly what the team management wanted ahead of the South Africa tour but

Mohammed Shami is happy that barren tracks like the one at the ongoing Test in Kotla have given him a chance to test his fitness while bowling long spells. The bowlers had to toil hard for the entire day as Sri Lanka ended the day three at 356/9 in reply to India’s massive first innings score of 536/7 declared.

“The kind of tracks we would have wanted to bowl on before going to South Africa haven’t been provided. So it didn’t go as per our plans. But it is a good thing that on these kind of pitches, you need to work even harder as a fast bowler. These tracks test your fitness as you get to bowl long spells,” Shami said at the end of the third day’s play.

Having bowled 24 overs in the innings so far for two wickets, Shami is happy that it’s a departure from the usual template of spinners getting to bowl maximum overs.

“If you see, fast bowlers have little chance to bowl long spells especially in India. It is a rarity that fast bowlers are getting to bowl more than 25 or 30 overs. Earlier it used to be at the max -- 12 to 14 overs -- but if you see in the past one and half years, we are continuously sending down 20 to 25 overs.

There was no reverse swing on offer, said Shami. MOHALI: The upcoming one day match between India and Sri Lanka may be remembered for a good innings by a batsman or a splendid bowling performance, but it will be certainly memorable for one other event. Dhoni will hang up his boots after the match.

Dhoni is a sniffer dog working with the Mohali district police for the last 10 years. He is set to complete his service and retire after the match on December 13. The police will hold a formal farewell ceremony for Dhoni and two other dogs, John and Preeti, who will also retire on the same day. Dhoni is a white Labrador. After the retirement, the dogs will be given for adoption to people interested in taking care of them. The adoption process will be done through an auction. All the three dogs have a reserve price of Rs 800 each. Amrik Singh, the in-charge of the dog squad, told Chandigarh Newsline that Dhoni joined the district police on February 10, 2007, and since than the dog had assisted them in many high-profile security operations and solving important cases and catching some drug peddlers.

The police brought Dhoni from Ahmednagar when he was just three months old. Dhoni was trained at Phillaur police academy. “Dhoni used to assist us in checking at PCA stadium during the international matches. During the world cup semifinal in 2011 between India and Pakistan, when the Prime Ministers of both the countries came to the city, Dhoni was working with us,” Amrik Singh said.

Apart from this, Dhoni also played an important role during security operations in Zirakpur when Dera Sacha Sauda followers were escorted out of Mohali by the district police as they streamed out of Panchkula to go back to their homes in Punjab and Haryana in the aftermath of the violence in August this year. Dhoni was deployed during that process to sniff bags to check for explosives.

Amrik Singh said that Dhoni is fond of eating eggs and drinking milk. Dhoni drinks three litres of milk every day and eats 20 to 30 eggs per day in his three meals. Amrik Singh added that Dhoni does not like chapatis. “He likes to sleep six to seven hours a day. He sleeps in the daytime. He is a specialist in sniffing explosives. He is the quickest of the dogs we have when it comes to do any search operations. We are going to miss him. He has been a great asset for us,” he said.

The two other dogs, Preeti and John, will also retire along with Dhoni. Both have completed their 10 years of service with the district police. Preeti and John will also be given formal farewell on their retirement. Like Dhoni, Preeti is also a specialist in sniffing the explosives while John is a smell/ scent specialist at murders and other crime spots.

John was deployed at the home of senior journalist K J Singh and his mother Gurcharan when they were found murdered at their house in Phase 3B2 in September this year. But the trail proved short for John, as the assailant made his getaway in K J’s car.