Mohammed Shami made a stunning return to India's T20 setup with a stellar last over against Australia in the warm-up game. Shami's yorkers turned out to be too good for Australia's lower-order batters as India won the game by six runs. Shami’s seam position was perfect in the sole over he bowled after getting selected as injured Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement in the team. Arch-rivals’ premier fast bowler Shaheen Afridi is also a fan of Shami’s seam bowling. The veteran Indian pacer was seen giving tips to the left-arm pacer in the nets before the practice game.
Pakistan Cricket posted a video on Twitter in which Afridi can be seen having a fanboy moment with Shami.
“Jabse maine bowling start ki hai tabse mai aapko follow kar raha hun, aapki na wrist position aur seam ka jawab nahi hai (I am following you since I started bowling and from that time I have been a big fan of your wrist position and upright seam,” the 22-year-old said.
Shami extended a helping hand as well and demonstrated how the wrist position should be while releasing the ball.
“Agar release point acha ho jayega na seam bhi theek ho jayega (if the release point is on point, then the seam will be automatically good),” Shami replied.
Shaheen is returning to the Pakistan side after a long injury layoff. The southpaw got injured during Test series against Sri Lanka and travelled for T20I series against Netherlands as well where he was ruled out.
He made an impressive return in the practice game against England and conceded just seven runs in his two-over opening spell while defending a target of 161 in the rain-curtailed 19 overs per side game.
On the other hand, Shami was called in to bowl by skipper Rohit Sharma in the last over to defend 11 runs at The Gabba, Brisbane. Shami bowled pin-point yorkers to get the wicket of Josh Inglis, Pat Cummins and Kane Richardson whereas Ashton Agar got run out trying to sneak a single.
He conceded just four runs in the last over and took three wickets. It is to be noted that Shami has not played a single T20I since last year's World Cup. Also, his last international appearance was against England in the ODI series. He was included in the T20I side for home T20I series against Australia and South Africa but could not play as he contracted Covid-19.
