Cricket expert Sanjay Manjrekar feels India missed the services of Mohammed Shami in the opening Test match against South Africa, which India lost by a huge margin of an innings and 32 runs. Shami is well known for his upright seam position but he has been ruled out of the two-match series due to an ankle injury.
Shami ended the ODI World Cup 2023 as the highest wicket-taker with 24 scalps in seven matches and he bowled with an impressive average of 10.71, including three five-wicket hauls and one four-wicket haul. Thus, the experienced fast bowler was in red-hot form.
In Shami’s absence, India went with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and debutant Prasidh Krishna. But barring Bumrah (4-69), none of the other fast bowlers could make an impact in favorable conditions. Thakur and Krishna also conceded their runs at 5.30 and 4.70 respectively and thus failed to provide any support to Bumrah.
“India missed Mohammed Shami. Because you are talking about getting the most out of the pitch by hitting the pitch and not looking for movement in the air. What does Shami do best? He gets movement on Indian pitches, where there is hardly any. So, he would have been a handful,” Sanjay Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.
Manjrekar added that Indian bowlers would have realized they needed to bowl differently and would have taken their lessons after conceding 408 runs.
“The main takeaway, apart from getting a few more runs on the board, is that you got to bowl differently, and the Indian seamers, the quality bowlers that we have, have realised that now.”
The former batter feels the Indian bowlers bowled a tad fuller in the initial phase and later adjusted their lengths but it was too late by then as South Africa had already put enough runs on the board.
“If you remember the first over that Jasprit Bumrah bowled, he was trying big inswingers, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur as well. There were three men in the covers to the left-hander Dean Elgar, and they were pitching the ball up, trying to get him to drive. Those were floaty kinds of deliveries, and India learned after that that we are not getting too much help, so let’s shorten our length. By the time India realized the South African way of getting more out of the pitch, enough runs were already scored,” Manjrekar said.
The second Test match between South Africa and India will be played at the Newlands, Cape Town from January 3.
