Mohammed Shami sets off to England for WTC final vs Australia
India's Test fast-bowling spearhead Mohammed Shami departed for England early morning on Thursday, June 1, for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia.
The 32-year-old posted two photos - one of him sitting all smiles at the airport and another mask-clad selfie from inside the flight - and a video on Instagram.
He captioned it with an inspiring quote:
Travelling 🧭 to 🇬🇧. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"
Most other members have already reached England after finishing their respective IPL campaigns.
Shami's coming hot on the heels of a brilliant IPL 2023 campaign. Although his team, Gujarat Titans (GT), lost to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the final in Ahmedabad on Monday, Shami took home the Purple Cap for the season.
His 28 wickets came at an average of 18.64 and a strike rate of 13.93. Out of his 28 wickets, 17 came in the powerplay, most of them with typical Test line-and-length bowling.
Moreover, in a season where fast bowlers found it difficult to control runs, he recorded his second-best economy rate in an IPL season - just 8.03.
Mohammed Shami's Test record against Australia
Shami would have to bring similar leadership to the national side in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. His numbers are promising in this regard. The right-arm bowler has 40 wickets from 11 Tests against the Aussies at an average of 31.28. His career-best spell of 6/56 also came against Australia in Perth in 2018.
Although his record in English conditions isn't that encouraging (average of 40.53 in 13 matches), India will take hope from his 11 wickets at 27.55 during the four-Test series (the fifth Test was played in 2022) against England in 2021.
The only time he played at the Kia Oval, the venue of the WTC final, was in 2018 where he picked up two wickets across both innings as India lost by 118 runs.
The summit clash will kick off at 3 pm IST on June 7.