New Delhi:
The Indian team gave its fans the Dussehra gift by winning the third test at Indore and handing the Kiwis a series whitewash. Ravichandran Ashwin was surely the architect of the win as he cast a web around the Kiwis batsman much like what he did to the visiting Aussies and Proteas sometime back.
But since time immemorial test matches victories have been carved out through an overall team effort with each player playing his role to perfection, and the Indian team's series win against the visiting New Zealenders was testimony to the same.
The Indian batsman looked in superlative form with some breath taking stroke-play, helping the home side post imposing totals to put the visitors under pressure. But the one big take home that Indian would take from the series would be the notable contribution of pacers in scalping wickets on Indian batting strips which are generally hailed to be dead wickets.
Among the Indian seamers, Mohammed Shami left an impregnable impession with his bowling exploits in the Kolkata and Kanpur Test.His efforst have been lauded by the Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
Mohammed Shami who made a sensational start to his test career by ripping through the West Indians, claiming 11 wickets at an meager average of 16.54 had been plagued by injuries and out of the team for sometime. But the seamer looks to have made a spirited comeback with his stellar performance in the ongoing test cricket against the Kiwis.
Mohammed Shami has grown by leaps and bounds ever since he made it to the Indian cricket team. Shami broke through into the Indian team after his sensational outing with Bengal in the 2012-13 Ranji trophy season where he bagged 28 wickets at 21.35. In his impressive IPL stint with Kolkata Knightriders, Shami was hailed by Pakistan pace legend Wasim Akram as one of the bowlers who could make it big in the international arena.
Shami is one of those bowlers who is blesesed with natural pace and the ability to swing the ball. Shami is an outright strike bowler who relishes the challenge of taking on frontline batsman and giving his side the initial breakthroughs with consistency.
But what makes Shami special is his ability to reverse swing the old ball. The Bengal seamer has mastered the art of making the old ball talk and getting through the defences of the very best batsman. With Shami back in the test side, the Indians look to have a well rounded pace attack.
On one side, Bhuvneshwar Kumar can be potent with the new ball in seaming conditions while Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron are speed demons who can tear apart oppositions with their menacing speeds and Shami adds the icing to the cake with his lethal reverse swing.
At 26, Mohammed Shami has matured into a very good test bowler and promises to win more Test matches for India with the red cherry in his hand.
