Shami gets bowling practice at his farmhouse
New Delhi: Fast bowler Mohammed Shami is back in the nets, albeit not within the setup of the national team. Shami tweeted a video of him bowling in his hometown in Uttar Pradesh.
“Quality practice session at my farmhouse all brothers together,” said Shami in his caption to the video.
In the video, Shami can be seen bowling in good rhythm. He has been able to find outdoor space to train during the lockdown and had previously tweeted a video of him sprinting with his dog.
He had earlier said that it will take at least a month to get used to not using saliva at all on the ball. The usage of saliva for shining the ball has been banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) temporarily so as to ensure the safe resumption of cricket amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Using saliva is a habit now. Replacing it with an external substance like wax or Vaseline is going to be difficult. We’ll need to assess how well the external substance works and will need at least a month to get used to it. Otherwise it’s a guaranteed fine on us bowlers,” Shami told ESPNcricinfo.
Shami is part of a fast bowling attack that is considered among the best in contemporary Test cricket. It includes Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Commenting on who bowls with the new ball, Shami says, it’s often a difficult choice, especially when the first-choice trio of himself, Ishant and Bumrah play together.
“We surround Virat Kohli and ask him to make the decision,” Shami said. “But he normally says, ‘don’t get me involved in all this; you decide among yourselves, I don’t have an issue.’ That is the kind of fun we have in our team meetings. I let the other two start. I have no objection to bowling with a semi-new ball.”