India's Mohammed Shami (L) and Mohammed Siraj (R).
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: For the briefest of time, Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami converged at the bowlers' run up mark at the Garware Club House end of the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday evening. Siraj appeared to insist on one more over for himself. And why not? He was in that zone, having taken three Sri Lankan wickets in no time. He did deserve a fifth over, but how do you resist summoning Shami? The veteran pacer has been bowling like a dream and dismissing batsmen like IT companies would fire their employees at the hint of recession. And Shami didn't disappoint, performing the final rites of a short Lankan innings with a second fifer in only his third match.
Together with his four-wicket haul against England in Lucknow, Shami has 14 wickets in three matches, just one wicket less than Jasprit Bumrah who has featured in all seven matches. Shami has also stacked up some crazy numbers in the process. His average is 6.71 runs per wicket, economy is 4.27 and strike rate is 9.4 balls per wicket. The next best strike rate is that of Hardik Pandya (19.8) and that shows the kind of cutting edge Shami has provided to the Indian attack. With the effervescent Jasprit Bumrah in the mix, India's pace attack looks easily the best in this World Cup even though they are yet to meet the marauding South African batters. While that would be known on Sunday at the Eden Gardens, it's hard not to recast your mind to the 2003 World Cup when Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra formed a lethal three-pronged pace attack until it imploded in the final against Australia.
Between the three, they finished the campaign with an impressive haul of 49 wickets in conditions that would have been kinder to the pacers than in India. The current pace unit has already claimed 38 wickets with potentially at least four matches left for it. In a country where batsmen are treated like demigods, it's the bowlers who are stealing the show even when the batters stack up 350-plus totals like in Mumbai on Thursday. Though Virat Kohli (88), Shubman Gill (92) and Shreyas Iyer (82) came up with sparkling knocks, the talk was all about Indian pacers who shot out Lanka for 55.
"Yeah, looking at today's bowling and the previous game, definitely, we are lucky not to play against them," said Iyer in his post-match comments.
While batting was always going to be India's trump card in these conditions, the pacers have refused to cede the primacy to the willow wielders. In a tournament where most teams are struggling to have one quality strike bowler, India have been blessed with three of them. There has been little respite for the batters with all three of them in beast mode. If Siraj can't, Bumrah will get you, and if Bumrah can't then Shami will for sure.
It's scary and even intimidating if you are a rival batter and who would know it better than Lankans who have been shot out by India for 73 (in India), 50 (Colombo) and 55 (Mumbai) this year alone.
"We've faced them in the Asia Cup final (where Lanka were shot out for 50) as well as today," said Lankan assistant coach Naveed Nawaz when asked about his impression of Indian pacers. "I've seen the bowling attack, Bumrah, Siraj, and of course Shami. They're very skillful. They always get the batsman to play the ball, and they always attack the stumps. They all can swing the ball both ways and also, we have seen their death-over skills as well, the middle as well as the death. So I guess it may be one of the best bowling attacks for India in recent times."
Former Pakistan batter Hasan Raza, in a TV show, made a hilarious claim that ICC might be providing Indian bowlers with a different ball which allows them to swing and seam it a lot more than others. While Raza's view is as trite as any from Pakistan these days and has to be met with the utmost contempt it deserves, it's a compliment gift-wrapped in complaint. The cricketing world is both amazed and astonished with the skills the Indian pacers have displayed even on batter-friendly pitches.
"If you look at that bowling attack and you watch them operate, it's a very strong bowling attack," said Sri Lanka Head Coach Chris Silverwood. "I think any team in the world would want an attack like that, to be honest."
That's the finest tribute one can pay for this wonderful Indian trio.