Indian pacer Mohammed Shami while interacting live with former allrounder Irfan Pathan, revealed his favourite format of cricket. He also talked about his strategy while taking the hat-trick against Afghanistan during the 2019 World Cup.
Amid the lockdown because of coronavirus pandemic, the two fast bowlers Shami and Irfan had a candid chat through the live session on Instagram where the latter asked some questions to Shami.
When Irfan asked Shami to name his one favourite format, he picked up Test format. Shami said that the longest and traditional format of the game is intense and therefore, he likes to play. While he said for entertainment, he would select the shortest format — T20I.
“For entertainment purposes, I would like to choose T20I but I would like to play Test cricket for the intensity of the game,” he said.
Mohammed Shami’s strategy while taking hat trick:
Irfan Pathan also asked Shami about his mindset while taking the third wicket to register the hat-trick against Afghanistan during the group stage match of 2019 World Cup.
The pacer said that he was only thinking to hit three stumps and backed his plan. He also said that he got the support of MS Dhoni, the former Indian captain, to execute his plan.
“I was only thinking about the three stumps. I was clear that I will bowl above 140 Kmph. My plan was to bowl yorker after taking two wickets on the consecutive ball and Mahi bhai suggested the same, I did the same and got the hat-trick,” Shami said.
“The only thing in my mind while bowling last over is to execute your plans and back your skills. There is not too much option as a bowler, the more you do variation in bowling, chances are high that you will concede runs, ” he added.
The 29-year old has played 49 Test matches, 77 ODIs and 11 T20Is. He has picked up 180 Test wickets, 144 ODI wickets and 12 T20I wickets.