IND vs AUS: Mohammed Shami shines with the ball, claims three wickets on spin-friendly pitch

Mohd Shami (right) celebrates the dismissal of Australia’s Steve Smith with skipper Rohit Sharma in Dubai yesterday. Pic/PTI

Sticking to the bowling combination of four spinners in the semi-final against Australia, the Indian bowlers faced their biggest challenge in the Champions Trophy. At the Dubai Stadium, where no other team had managed to cross the 250-run mark in the three league games, the Aussie batsmen showed a refreshing approach and put up a healthy 264 in 49.3 overs. No doubt, it was a fresh pitch, yet it was a fine batting effort by the Australians against the varied bowling attack.

In fact, the Australians faced the four-pronged spin attack with confidence on a pitch that was better than the three previous games. Their positive intent against the spinners forced Rohit Sharma to fall back on pacer Mohammed Shami time and again, and the pace bowler did not disappoint.

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After opening with a five-wicket haul in the game against Bangladesh, Shami went wicketless against both Pakistan and New Zealand. However, in those matches, the Indian spinners did most of the damage, thus, Shami was not required to finish his quota of 10 overs. He bowled eight against Bangladesh and only four against New Zealand. That gave rise to speculation that he may be rested in the semi-final, giving Arshdeep Singh his first outing. But the team management decided to stick with the winning combination, giving Shami respite. He not only bowled his full quota but also picked up three crucial wickets.

Shami got rid of Cooper Connolly for a duck in his second over to give India an early break. Later, he got the well-set Steve Smith bowled with a full toss, a delivery that the Australia captain would generally dispatch to the boundary. That was a timely wicket too, as Smith was threatening to cut loose and that would have allowed the Aussies to end up with 20-odd runs more than what they managed. Shami then got rid of Nathan Ellis to complete his three-wicket haul, giving away 48 runs. Had Shami not dropped a couple of catches off his own bowling early in his spell, he could well have claimed another fifer.

At a pre-match interaction with media, when Steve Smith was asked if the Aussie batters would be extra careful against Varun Chakravarthy, he said all the spin bowlers were good enough. "I think not just Varun Chakravarthy, the rest of the bowlers are quality as well, so I think for us, the game's probably won and lost in how we play this spin, particularly in the middle overs, the way we get through there. It's going to be a challenge. I think that there's going to be some spin by the looks of it, looking at the surface. And yeah, we've got to counter that," remarked Smith.

It seems in trying to focus on the spinners, the Aussie batters apparently took Shami lightly and the India pacer bowled with speed and guile to show his importance as a pace bowler in the team that is minus the injured Jasprit Bumrah.