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Bringing in Mohammed Shami in place of Mohammed Siraj seems to be working for Team India in the ongoing fourth Test at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday (March 9).
Shami was rested for the second and third Tests in Delhi and Indore respectively, but skipper Rohit Sharma decided to include India's star pacer for the all-important clash of the Border-Gavaskar series which will decide Men in Blue's fate in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-2023 final.
Australia got off to a decent start as they were well stable at 61 for no loss before Travis Head (32) lost his cool and threw away his wicket off R Ashwin's delivery. Marnus Labuschagne (3) was the next man going as was cleaned up by Shami's ripper to leave the Australian scoreboard hanging at 72/2.
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Skipper Steve Smith tried to steady Australia's boat by pairing up with opener Usman Khawaja in the middle and the duo batted patiently to put on a 79-run partnership for the third wicket. But soon after Smith was seen taking the longest walk towards pavilion when Ravindra Jadeja castled him for 38.
Peter Handscomb was the next to walk into the middle who was barraged by couple of short balls by Umesh Yadav. In the 71st over, one off Shami's straightened ball hit the good length which forced Handscomb play the wrong line and eventually pay the price for it. Shami's ripper sent Handscomb's off-stump cartwheeling after a brief stay which saw the Australian batter scoring 17 off 27.
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As of 71st over, Australia were 198/4 with Khawaja (86) nearing his hundred. Shami. Shami didn't get off to a good start as he conceded 10 runs in his opening over. But soon he made amends and cleaned up couple of Australia's star batters.
Meanwhile, India's legendary cricketer and former skipper Sunil Gavaskar slammed Team India and said it wasn't a smart move to rest Shami in the second and third Tests.
"Resting Mohammed Shami was not a smart move. You had 8 days break between the 2nd and the 3rd Test. He bowled military medium in his first two deliveries," Gavaskar said on air for Star Sports."Great bowlers were at you straightaway, from the first ball.
"He is just not getting his line right. Look at how far that went. It's going to be called byes because it hasn't gone away from the marker, which indicates wide. I think, you know that Mohammed Shami is the kind of bowler who likes to be in rhythm, may be you shouldn't rest him. I think it's important to get your bowling muscles going, in the gym, you don't get your bowling muscles going," Gavaskar further added.
After winning the third Test emphatically, Australia have already fixed their berth in ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-2023 final. Now, India need to win the fourth Test to confirm their place in the WTC final which will be held at the Oval in June.
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