The Indians had another rampant run in the opening day of the second Test as they rolled over Australia emphatically leaving them in immense pain, thanks to some swashbuckling display from Mohammed Shami who walked away with 4 wickets on a rank turner while Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin walked away with 3 wickets each.
The right-arm fast bowler gave a detailed explanation of how he managed to leave Australia stunned on a track that had nothing but turn where Ashwin and Jadeja did make their presence felt, leaving the batters tangled in an almost undoable knot.
Spilling the beans on how exactly, Shami managed to walk away with the scalps, he said, “We, as a team don’t depend on the toss. We don’t bother about it at all. It doesn’t matter what happens at the toss. Whatever we get first, we try to perform. We stay in that frame of mind. All out toh har jagah hi kia hai. Pahle bhi kia tha. Age bhi karenge. India mein all out hona hi hai, hum nahi karenge toh spinners kar denge. (We’ve bowled out the opposition everywhere. We will do it again in the future. If not the pacers, the spinners will bowl the opposition out).”
He further added, “We all have come from domestic cricket. All the fast bowlers have done well and they know how to exploit the home conditions. It won’t be right to say the Indian conditions are more suited to spinners or pacers.”
Rubbing further salt on the Aussie wounds, Shami concluded, “Even recently in domestic cricket, pacers have done well. Focus should be on line and length and maintaining pace. With that you can succeed in all conditions. Even on Indian wickets there is enough. Kuch nai toh reverse milega (if not anything else, you will get reverse swing).” He had a footnote about how the surface has been acting up, adding, “There is not a lot of difference. Indian wickets are on the slower side but there is still enough for the pacers.”
