Mohammed Shami Revealed How Their Pacers Ruled Day 1 Of The Nottingham Test Against England

Mohammed Shami heaped praise on Indian pacers for their brilliant bowling display on Day 1 of the Nottingham Test against England where the hosts were bundled out for 183 after Joe Root elected to bat first.

Team India went with four pacers consisting of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur, which undoubtedly raised many eyebrows in the cricket fraternity as they opted only one spinner – Ravindra Jadeja and excluded R Ashwin, the one who grabbed five-wicket haul for Surrey in County Championship. 

However, the exclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing XI didn’t hurt team India as their four-man pace attack thrashed England and bowled them out for just 183 runs.

Jasprit Bumrah was their highest wicket-taker in the first innings of England, having picked 4 wickets. Mohammed Shami was equally impressive, having bagged 3 wickets in 17 overs while Shardul had two under his belt and Siraj ended with one. 

Mohammed Shami, meanwhile, revealed their success mantra on Day 1 of the Nottingham Test. Shami said that the bowlers bowled in the right length, which is the full length looking for the swing on offer and troubled the Englishmen with the massive movement of the Dukes. 

“Now the thing is that we need to focus on the first hour and according to me the ball has not done much, the way we bowled in the day, we bowled in the right length and accordingly you have got wickets,” Mohammed Shami said after day’s play.  

Coming to bat after England bundled out for 183, India got off to a good start as their openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma looked playing cautiously. India ended Day 1 with 21 runs on board, with both Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul contributing 9 runs each. 

Mohammed Shami is confident that the batters will make most of this opportunity given to them by their bowlers and take a sizeable lead and continue their hold on the game.

“Obviously because 183 as per me we should make a good score and take the lead. We are in a good position, because any team you bowl out for 183 at its home is a good performance. I think, we need to focus and (it) doesn’t matter whether it is 183 or 283, you need to focus a bit and need to add runs. The main focus will be to score 183 and after that whatever comes,” the senior pacer stated.