- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
India spearhead Mohammed Shami played a key role with the ball in the first one-day international (ODI) against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday (17) as he picked three wickets for only 17 runs to help his side restrict the visitors to 188, a score which the host team overhauled but not without a scare.
The 32-year-old Shami, who dismissed Josh Inglis, Cameron Green and Marcus Stoinis, has carried the load of the Indian pace department in the prolonged absence of Jasprit Bumrah, who has been out with a back injury for a while. He also did well in the recent Test series against the Australians by picking nine wickets in three matches. Whenever the team has needed him, even if it is in the T20 format, Shami has not let it down.
After the match in Mumbai, Shami was asked whether ODI cricket is becoming increasingly taxing for bowlers as batters across the world get flat pitches to exploit. To this, he responded that as a team, India do not let the conditions or the format dictate terms and are confident that they are the best across conditions.
He then minced no words to say that it doesn’t matter whether India are playing at home or overseas. He added that India remain ahead irrespective of the condition and then took a dig at the Australian team saying India have beaten them in their own backyard and hence there is no reason to show any concern when facing the same opponent at home.
“Hum kisi bhi condition mein honge, hum sabse age hai. Hume kar ke bhi dikhaya hai. humne unko ghar pe jake bhi haraya hai toh apne ghar mein toh sochne ka sawal hi nahi hai (We are ahead of every team irrespective of conditions. We have shown it in the past too. We have beaten them in their den, so there is no question of worrying when we are playing at home),” he told reporters in Mumbai.
India have beaten Australia in back-to-back Test series Down Under in 2018-19 and 2020-21 and have retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2016-17.
India and Australia will lock horns over the second ODI in Visakhapatnam on Sunday (19).
