IND vs SA | Mohammed Shami taking five wickets in second innings big positive for us, says Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri has heaped praise on Mohammed Shami's bowling in the second innings of the Vizag Test, where he reversed the ball well to help India win the match. Shastri has also admitted that Jasprit Bumrah might need surgery in order to recover from the ailing back affected by stress fracture.
After a rough first innings, where he was taken to the cleaners and couldn’t do the same damage, Shami had been so good in the second innings that the memories of the first dig seemed like a long time ago. Shami exploited the cracks by generating seam movement as most of his balls held its line. The balls to dismiss Faf du Plessis and Temba Bavuma were a pacer’s dream and the way he exhibited it added to his second innings legend, even further.
His five-wicket haul brought his second innings average to 22.58 as compared to his first-innings average of 34.47 and Shastri is understandably happy about the improvement. "A fast bowler [Mohammed Shami] taking five wickets in the second innings in India is big positive for you from the Test. I give him a lot of credit. From where he has come from in the last 18 months," Shastri told the Sportstar.
He has had personal issues, but to bounce back from that and bowl the way he did is remarkable. He is relentless. As a batsman, I would have hated to face him. He is at you all the time, he is very skilful and in conditions like yesterday few bowlers in the world are better than him," he added.
Ahead of the first home Test of the season, Jasprit Bumrah suffered a stress fracture that ruled him out of the action for possibly the entire home season. He has travelled to the United Kingdom for the treatment, and as Ravi Shastri admitted, he might have to undergo surgery on the affected area to recover. Meanwhile, Shastri has updated that Hardik Pandya, whose back injury led to surgery, has been successful.
"Very concerned because Bumrah is precious, he’s special, he’s different, and he’s a match-winner. They are taking opinions on whether he needs surgery. We have to be careful about his workload because he plays all three formats. Hardik's surgery was successful. What the recovery shows we will know in two weeks' time. He’s a game-changer and ideally, we would want him in every format," the Indian head coach said.
Rohit Sharma made rapid strides as an opener in the very first match he has opened for Team India and played two scintillated innings to own South Africa in the first Test. More than the runs he scored, which is no less than 303 runs in two innings, it was the assuredness with which he batted that became the main talking point. The same was the case with another made-to-be-opener for the Indian team in the early 2000s and the rest is history. Shastri echoed the similar sentiments for the Mumbai player.
"I would hate to see a player of his quality sitting in the reserves. In the West Indies, I was very clear that he should open and had a chat with Kohli about it. This was his opportunity. It is the mindset. A lot of guys in India should have opened the batting in the last 20 years for the sake of the team balance but they didn’t have the stomach for it. You have to put mind over matter. You got to respect the new ball and assess the conditions.
"Who would have thought Virender Sehwag would average nearly 50 in Tests. But he conquered those first 20 minutes against the new ball. I don’t think any other opener actually enjoyed opening like he did. Both destroyers, both with the ability to score very big given the tempo with which they play."