"Always looking up to him to learn anything possible for my bowling," says Mohammad Shami on James Anderson
Just a couple of days remain for the fourth England-India Test match, and waiting for more laurels to come to him, is English speedster, James Anderson. At 557 scalps, Anderson is only seven wickets away from becoming the highest pace-bowling wicket-taker of all time, surpassing Glenn McGrath.
Earlier today, it was Mohammad Shami who attended the press conference for the Indian side, and he duly expressed amazement at how Jimmy Anderson is able to deceive batsmen with his guile even when he is not as quick as his Indian counterparts. He also recollected times from when he observed Anderson's bowling, to develop his own skills in the arena.
"As far as learning goes, when you see a senior player (Anderson) performing before you like that, you observe him as much as you can. I am always looking at how he doesn't have as much pace as us but still takes wickets - what lengths does he bowl? You get to learn these things. He's a different bowler in different conditions," Shami told reporters.
"No matter where a player comes from, the first thing you have to see is what he works on in home conditions. We have been able to learn a great deal from Anderson. We saw him on the last tour here as well and he bowled really well. So far, what I've learnt from Anderson is that more accurate you are, the better it is for you," he added.
He also wished his English counterpart the very best for the upcoming games, when he will most certainly rewrite the above-mentioned piece of history into his own name.
This was followed by a small session on the pacer giving his take on Indian bowling in the English conditions. With Indian pacers picking up 38 out of the 46 English wickets that fell in in three Tests, the player said that it is their duty to deliver in conducive conditions, just like it was in South Africa in early 2018.
He also shed some light on how taxing the past few months have been for him in terms of family-related issues, but he added that practising with all those in mind helped him become tough and capable of handling tense situations.
With the series in a balance at 1-2, India will definitely look to continue their winning way from Trent Bridge and to complete the comeback and seal the series.
They do not have a good memory of playing in Southampton, where the side lost a game by 266 runs - in 2014. Hopefully, they will have that in mind as they go ahead and play the game to win it and nothing lesser.