How Shami has single-handedly solved India’s lack of flexibility

India are one step away from the ODI World Cup title and while they will face five-time champions Australia in the summit which is expected to be much more than a cricket match, with the presence of PM Narendra Modi and an air show at Is Indian Air Force, Men in Blue are favorites to win the match. Maybe that’s not a different thing. Funny things have happened in sports and as in life, it is full of surprises.

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But on balance and whatever has happened in the World Cup so far, it’s a bet you won’t find a bookie who favors Australia for India in the final. Australia are mental monsters, but for the first time India look to undo their long-standing corruption-free team at the biggest stages.

Just earlier this year in March, Australia beat India in an ODI series in India, but the current Team India is far from what the same players were back then.

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10 wins from 10 games; nine in the group and a semi-final win over New Zealand, the remarkable thing about the Men in Blue is not that they are unbeaten so far but that there is no apparent weakness in the Rohit Sharma-led side. .

And if there is any, it is hidden by the offensive form of Indian cricket.

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Rohit Sharma led the way with a batting strike rate of 124.15 and still managed to amass 550 runs. Virat Kohli has 711 runs and three centuries. Shreyas Iyer has 526 runs. KL Rahul is close to 400 runs and has some impressive knocks to show for it. Shubman Gill has scored 350 runs so far. Mohammed Shami has 23 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah has 18 wickets. Ravindra Jadeja 16, Kuldeep Yadav 15 and Mohammed Siraj 13.

That’s 10 names. 10 from India’s current playing XI and the only one missing is Suryakumar Yadav, who joined the side after the first four matches when Hardik Pandya was injured before being ruled out. The form of the top five batsmen has not allowed SKY to make a mark so far but we are well aware of what he brings to the table.

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With six batsmen, one and four bowlers, India have defied the norm of having flexibility in bowling. In an era where just five bowling options is seen as nothing less than an early mistake, India have won six straight matches.

And this is when you have to stand up and applaud Shami.

If the one potential weakness in Team India has not been exploited so far or is not visible at all, it will be because of Shami and his brilliant bowling.

One of the giants in India’s pace bowling department and the man with the most stable seam position in world cricket, Shami took a fifer against Australia just ahead of the World Cup, but India chose to play it safe, the any area they were in’. t go completely gung-ho, and decided to add Shardul Thakur to the line up.

It cannot be said that they were wrong as the campaign started with four straight wins but the number of wins and the amount of dominance decreased after the entry of Shami.

He started as a fifer in New Zealand at Dharamsala as India beat the Black Caps in an ICC event for the first time in 20 years.

As a loyal servant of the game and Team India, Shami did not flinch.

And since then what a journey it has been.

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In just six matches, Shami has 23 wickets – the most in World Cup 2023. He averages 9.13 and has an economy rate of just 5.01. The strike rate? 10.91 incredible! He has three five-wicket hauls so far including 7/57 in the semi-finals – the best bowling figures in the 2023 edition.

Such form is rare and special, and has enabled Rohit to walk out a lesser bowler in each of the last six matches. In many ways, it was Shami’s inclusion that freed India from all inhibitions. They’re not playing it safe anymore and in the final, they won’t. It’s what helped them become this mean machine and that shouldn’t change.