Mind games have always been a part of cricket and Indian pace bowler Mohammad Shami in a psychological jibe ahead of the fourth Test match, said that he and his fast bowlers would target Jonny Bairstow’s broken finger in the fourth Test match which begins at Southampton on August 30.
Bairstow had fractured the middle finger of his left hand after he was hit by a James Anderson delivery while keeping wickets in the third Test match where hosts England crashed to a 203-run loss.
“Not just me, any fast bowler will want to target his weak zone,” Shami, as quoted by BBC, said.
“When you see that a batsman has a weakness and he feels uncomfortable in some way, you’d prefer to work on that aspect. We will definitely look at that, “ he added.
Admiring Anderson
Despite not having as much pace as his Indian counterparts, England’s James Anderson has always had that element of guile and deception, something which Shami admires.
The Indian pacer, who is one of India’s most important bowlers wished the England veteran good luck as he stands just six short of Australian legendary pacer Glenn McGrath tally of 563 wickets-the most by a fast bowler in Test cricket. If Anderson manages to go past that mark, he would be the highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game.
“As far as learning goes, when you see a senior player (Anderson) performing before you like that, you observe him as much as you can. I am always looking at how he doesn’t have as much pace as us but still takes wickets – what lengths does he bowl? You get to learn these things. He’s a different bowler in different conditions,” said Shami as quoted by PTI, ahead of the fourth Test.
He added, “No matter where a player comes from, the first thing you have to see is what he works on in home conditions. We have been able to learn a great deal from Anderson. We saw him on the last tour here as well and he bowled really well. So far, what I’ve learnt from Anderson is that more accurate you are, the better it is for you.”
The Bengal speedster said that it is the duty of the pacers to perform well especially under such friendly conditions, given the fact that the quickies have made a serious impact in the series. For India, it has been Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Hardik Pandya who did the star turn with the ball at different periods in the third Test match in Nottingham which the visitors won by a margin of 203 runs.
“The responsibility is on fast bowlers to deliver in these conditions. We try out best and we have been trying our best. In the last series (in South Africa), you have seen we have done our job well too (picking 60 wickets in three Tests.
So the attempt is to not look at this entire series, but take it match by match. It is better for us to shorten it and look at it in that manner,” felt Shami.
Indian captain Virat Kohli’s policy of changing the squad has often faced criticism but the 28-year old said that this has given them time and space to recover.
“We have such a bench strength that is so strong that we can change if we want to. Even if we don’t change, we have such players that can bowl long spells in this format. But this chop and change policy is good (for the pace attack) because it allows us time to recover. So we have Test bowlers to play Test cricket and those who have ODI skills are playing shorter formats as well, to help raise the levels there,” he opined.
Head coach Ravi Shastri recently said that the current pace attack is the best India have had and Shami, expectedly being a core member of that unit is a happy man at such compliments. “We are seeing such an Indian bowling unit after a long time. When this is talked about, we also feel happy and enjoy our job. It is good for our country (Indian cricket) that we have got such an attack after a long time and if you compare one on one (with England or any other opponent), we have better bowlers. So when we hear this (praise), it feels very good and takes our confidence sky high.”
Singling out the fact that any bowler can bowl any delivery is what makes this bowling attack special, he further added.
“The pace attack we have, we can bowl any delivery. You take Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav, whoever the bowler may be, we can do that (attack and contain),” he said.
“It is good for us that we have so many options and we can evaluate which bowler is feeling better (confident). So we can pick options (accordingly) that this bowler should open the bowling or another bowler should do it. It depends on the fast bowling unit who wants to start.”