India captain Rohit Sharma considers senior pacer Mohammed Shami as the most difficult bowler to face in the nets. The opener had made this big compliment about Shami on a YouTube show with women cricketers Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana on their show ‘Double Trouble’ during the lockdown.
Shami has been a key member of the Indian pace attack over the past decade. Earlier, his career used to be plagued with injuries but later on the Bengal pacer worked hard on his fitness and now is a regular in the Test side.
Shami has taken 216 wickets in 60 Tests and 152 wickets in 82 ODIs and has been a crucial part of India’s success, especially overseas, in the past few years.
When Rohit was asked which bowler he found the most difficult to face in the nets, he picked pacer Mohammad Shami.
“The pitches we have for net sessions are almost always green with moisture. Whenever he (Shami) sees green pitch, woh aur zyada biryani khake aata hain,” Rohit said laughingly.
Rohit further revealed that now there is strong competition between Shami and Jasprit Bumrah in the nets.
“Bumrah is also difficult (to face). Shami, I have been playing since 2013. But yeah, right now there is like a competition going on between Bumrah and Shami, on who beats the bat most, who can hit the most on the helmets,” the Indian skipper said.
Even Ishant Sharma, the other senior pacer in the Test team who had played for a long time with Shami, also spoke about Shami’s love for red meat foods.
“Feed him biryani, mutton, nalli nihari, make him bowl, and then he falls asleep. That’s it. He’d say, “What is all this food? Have red meat.” “You’ll recover with that.” I said I’m a vegetarian. He’d say “That’s why you have slowed down.” I said, “Shami, go now,” Ishant had said on the show ‘Breakfast With Champions’.
Shami is not part of the Asia Cup squad
Meanwhile, there has been quite a few fans and experts raising questions over the exclusion of Mohammed Shami from the Asia Cup squad despite the seamer’s brilliant IPL 2022 performance for the title-winning team, Gujarat Titans.
Shami hasn’t played any T20I for India since the T20 World Cup last year in the UAE, and despite Bumrah and Harshal Patel being injured, Shami wasn’t recalled for the Asia Cup, which will start on August 27.
