cricket

Updated: Nov 20, 2019 16:04 IST

After his stupendous spell in Indore, Mohammed Shami broke into the top 10 in the ICC Test rankings and his stocks are continuously on the rise. Dale Steyn has already labelled him as the best fast-bowler currently owing to his roaring form. However, for Bangladesh, the fast-bowler spreads his wings even more when he plays at Eden Gardens and on a pitch which is expected to have a fair share of grass covering, he will be Virat Kohli’s X-factor.

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Then there are numbers which scream out his dominance on the ground - he has played 3 Tests at this venue and picked up 21 wickets at the average of 17.52 and with the strike-rate of 29.2. It should be mentioned here that this strike-rate of 29.2 is the best by any Indian bowler at any venue with more than 20 wickets.

‘Shami has always had the speed. It’s not fair to compare but if you look at bowlers all around, Shami’s got probably the best seam position. And one way to maintain the speed is he’s spent a lot of work doing his fitness. There is a perfect balance between fitness and the bowling he does. I think that works very well for Shami and that’s the secret behind it,’ India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun said after India’s dominant win in Indore.

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The fast-bowler, who returned with the figures of 3/27 and 4/31 in the first Test at Indore to achieve his career-best ranking, said he intends on keeping things simple for the historic Test.

“What one thing bowlers should do is keep an eye on the wicket and how is it behaving, so what I do is as the pitch gets slower I keep pushing myself and when I notice that the batsman is uncomfortable I go over the top... so the length has to keep changing,” Shami told the host broadcasters in Indore.