Former Indian bowler Rudra Pratap Singh on Thursday praised the veteran point guard and attributed his success to his ability to stick to his strength in all situations.
“The most special part is that Shami sticks to his strengths; his job is to play slightly off the stump and let the ball do the rest. He first showcases his skills and then looks for the batting weaknesses,” Singh said in an interaction. organized by Jio Cinema.
Singh also said that with experience, Shami is able to formulate shots against a batter just by watching his backlift.
“When you’re an experienced bowler, you know how the pitch would behave and what type of batter is on the other end. You talk a lot in team meetings and in excel sheets and powerpoints, but an experienced bowler can even formulate his plans looking at the batter’s bat-lift,” Singh added.
Siraj can lead India attack after Bumrah and Shami
mohamed siraj is another bowler who seems to get better with every game. “Siraj seems to have trained in a few areas with fitness being a major component. If you look at the technical part of his bowling, he has worked on his wrist positions and tracking which has helped him find a better rebound the field.
“He can definitely be a good replacement for (Jasprit) Bumrah and if his chart continues to rise then he can also be the next Mohammad Shami,” he said.
The left-arm pacer says Indian T20 specialists Arshdeep Singh will have to stick to his swing while Umran Malik needs to add more variations to his arsenal.
“Sometimes your management or the captain won’t allow you to do what you want to do. It was surprising to see Arshdeep get wickets on the shortball; he’s basically a swing bowler.
“Trying new things is fine, but in critical situations you can’t try too many new things – you have to stick to your guns.
“Arshdeep is known for his swing, he can tell his management that swing bowling is his strength and he should be allowed to stick to it.”
Singh also questioned how SRH uses Umran Malik.
“The way SRH used Umran Malik is certainly questionable, but as a bowler you have to earn the trust of the captain and the management you contribute to.
“There’s no doubt he has the speed, which is special, but he needs to improve his skills. Dale Steyn had the speed with the swing, but Umran’s skills to swing the ball need to be worked on.”
Singh also believes that CSK will experience another turbulent period once MS Dhoni steps down. “No one knows better than (MS) Dhoni how to use limited resources and get performance out of them.
“There were several injury issues but Dhoni still retained resources due to his knowledge of the game as well as the technical aspects. We saw last year what happened when Dhoni retired. will be difficult for CSK (after Dhoni’s retirement in IPL), the way MS has handled CSK is different.”
(With PTI entries)
