"If anyone deserves the Player of the Tournament award, it's Mohammed Shami" - Yuvraj Singh ahead of IND vs AUS 2023 World Cup final
Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has been highly impressed with the way veteran pacer Mohammed Shami has performed in the ongoing 2023 World Cup despite not playing all the games.
Shami has played just six games in the tournament so far, picking up a staggering 23 wickets and is leading the charts for most scalps so far. He is just fresh of an incredible seven-wicket haul against New Zealand in the semifinal, also marking the best figures by an Indian in ODI history.
Speaking to Sports Tak ahead of India vs Australia final, here's what Yuvraj Singh had to say about Mohammed Shami:
"India always had match-winners on the bench. I won't say Hardik's injury was a blessing in disguise, but everyone was waiting to see how Shami will perform and the way he has set the stage on fire has been outstanding. I feel if anyone deserves the Player of the Tournament award, it's Mohammed Shami."
Yuvraj also praised captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid for the work they have put in to make India a dominant force in the past few months. He added:
"Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid have a chance to get their first World Cup medal. They deserve it. Before the Asia Cup, we were wondering where is the Indian ODI team because we didn't know the combination. However, the return of Iyer, Rahul and Bumrah certainly made a difference."
India have 8-10 match winners in their team: Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh played for India during the period when Australia used to dominate world cricket. He claimed that just like the Aussies of the past, the Men in Blue now have packed their team with absolute match-winners.
On this, he stated:
"I believe that when seven batters don't get the job done, the extra batters won't make any difference. Now India have five proper batters and five proper bowlers. We have 8-10 match-winners, something which was seen in the Australian teams of the past who used to dominate."
Shami will once again be a major threat in the final for Australia and will look to give that one final push to take India to the title.