After getting late opportunities in the ongoing Cricket World Cup, the Indian pacer Mohammed Shami has bowled impressively in this tournament. However, the Indian national cricket team has come out to play the first semi-final of this tournament without including Shami in the playing XI. Shami’s personal coach Badruddin Siddique has been stunned by this decision.
The Indian national cricket team is in a top form in the ongoing 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. Initially, India started this tournament with the front-line pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Later, when Kumar faced a slight hamstring injury, Mohammed Shami replaced him in the playing XI.
The right-arm pacer Shami has played four matches in this tournament and taken 14 wickets with an average of 13.78 and economy rate of 5.48.
Shami first time played in this tournament during the match against Afghanistan. He managed to claim a hat-trick in that match and had the bowling figures of 4/40. The right-arm pacer also delivered the top bowling performances against Windies (4/16) and England (5/69). He played the last match in this tournament against Bangladesh and had the bowling figures of 9-0-68-1.
Shami missed out the last round-robin stage match of this tournament against Sri Lanka. On Tuesday (9th July), India is playing the first semi-final of this tournament against New Zealand. Once again, team management hasn’t included Shami in the playing XI.
Talking about Shami’s missing out the semi-final, Badruddin said according to IANS, “Stunned. How can you drop someone after he has picked 14 wickets for you in four games? What more do you expect out of your fast bowlers? I thought the rest in the Lanka game was an attempt to keep him fresh for the knockouts. Clearly, my assessment was wrong.”
Mohammed Shami’s role is to win games with the ball – Badruddin Siddique
Badruddin doesn’t believe the idea about Bhuvneshwar Kumar‘s better batting skills has forced Shami to miss out the semi-final. Ahead of this semi-final, Kumar managed to pick up seven wickets in five matches.
Badruddin added, “Really? If you have to bank on Shami or Bhuvi for batting, I think we are anyway losing the game. To be fair, if the top six cannot do the job, the remaining will not either. His role is to win games with the ball and I think he has proved himself despite not being given a start to begin with in the tournament.”
Also, Badruddin doesn’t feel that Shami has any fitness issues at this moment.
The coach said, “I last spoke to him after the West Indies game and I think the rhythm he hit was enough evidence that he has been supremely fit. If he had a fresh injury yesterday or the day before, then I am not aware of it.”
Mohammed Shami has taken 31 wickets in his Cricket World Cup career. He is the joint third most wicket-taker for India in CWC history.