Aaqib Javed rolls out high praise for Mohammed Shami
India’s highest wicket-taker in the World Cup so far with 9 wickets, Mohammed Shami has received rich praise from former Pakistan pacer and current United Arab Emirates (UAE) coach Aaqib Javed. The UAE coach was all praise for the India Pacer as he believes that Shami has all the ingredients to become a genuine asset for team India. The effortless rhythmical action and the brisk pace combined with the impeccable line and lengths have fetched rich dividends for the Indian pacer. He has hailed shami as the best bowler in the Indian ranks currently.
“For me the best bowler in this Indian line-up is Mohammed Shami. He has every ingredient of a good fast bowler and is an asset to the Indian team.The first thing that one looks in a fast bowler is pace and Shami has the ability to work up brisk pace. Also what made the difference is the length that he has hit consistently in the past few games. Against Pakistan, his length and the channel at which he bowled have been exceptional.”
“Australia is one country where you need a pace bowler to bend his back and hit the deck hard. Shami can hit the deck hard at the correct length. If he can continue this form in the knockout stages, India will be a difficult country to beat in this tournament,” he said.
The Pakistani pacer is also impressed by likes of Mohit Sharma and believes that he will only improve to become a better bowler in the future.
“I am also impressed by young Mohit Sharma and believe that he would turn out to be a good weapon for India in future. Mohit has natural ability to surprise you which is a good weapon to have in any seamer’s armoury. He doesn’t look very quick from a distance but if one carefully analyses his bowling, he would suddenly increase his pace by at least 5 kmp/h which is very impressive.In between the steady deliveries, he would bowl that one ’heavy ball’ that can surprise the best. It’s like hitting 132-135 kmp/h and one delivery would suddenly hit 140 kmph,” said Aaqib.
However, the UAE coach still feels that pacer Umesh Yadav still needs to settle down and become more consistent. Despite being gifted with pace Javed believes that Yadav is very erratic at times and lacks control.
“Umesh has got the potential but he is very erratic. The pace at which he bowls, he needs to bowl on one side of the wicket. He can just spray it all over. He needs to maintain that one line at which he would bowl” Aaqib added further.
The veteran of 182 ODI wickets went on to praise the India skipper for his control and his leadership
“Dhoni earns tremendous respect from his teammates and that’s what good leadership is all about,” he concluded.