MUMBAI: He has been called as the 'find of the IPL,' he has scorched the tournament with his express pace, having clocked 157kmph on the latest occasion, but, having a fair idea of what fast bowling is all about, India's premier pacer Mohammed Shami wants the world to go easy on Umran Malik, the Sunrisers tearaway from Jammu.
"I agree that he has pace. However, personally speaking, I'm not a big fan of pace. If your ball moves both ways at 140kmph and reverses, then it's enough to trouble any batsman. So, he has pace, but he will take time to mature, because, along with pace, we (pacers) need to upgrade ourselves too," Shami said at a media interaction organized by the Gujarat Titans on Friday.
The 31-year-old expressed his happiness at one of the most pleasant developments from IPL-2022-the emergence of a bunch of pacers who can perhaps serve India in the future-Mohsin Khan, Mukesh Chaudhary, Yash Dayal - besides many others who've impressed again.
"There are a lot of fast bowlers who've come out of this IPL. It feels good to see that our country's future will be in the hands of these people (bowlers) Obviously, for any country, if you see that there are such talented (pacers) bowling with such pace and swing, then as a team, you don't have question marks (about your quality). You get more clarity about what's best for your country. We see that experience is important. So, its' necessary that they're given more and more games, they're kept with the seniors (bowlers) more and more, and train well going forward in their career. That experience and thought is necessary," said the fast bowler, who's taken 214 wickets in 59 Tests and 148 sticks in 79 ODIs.
It was Shami, who, during the lockdown, taught Mohsin, the 23-year-old left-arm seamer from Uttar Pradesh who's done well in his debut season for Lucknow Super Giants in this IPL, a few tricks of the trade of fast bowling, at his residential ground in Amroha. "Mohsin has practiced with me. He's young and strong, but needs to focus on his game plan. You've to prepare a routine both physically and mentally. If you build your set-up at a young age, it will reap benefits for many years. When we used to play, very few people used to know about cricket that's played at a higher level. But today's generation has a lot of options," explained Shami.
"I feel that this new crop of fast bowlers, including Mohsin and Umran, are performing very well and have a lot of confidence. I hope that they do well for India in the near future," added the star bowler.
Emerging pacers apart, Shami's own form has been brilliant so far, and has contributed handsomely to Gujarat Titans' relentless march to IPL-15 playoffs -along with Prasidh Krishna, he's bowled the most number of dot balls -134 in 12 matches -in the competition, though he has taken more wickets-16 (@23.12) compared to Kishna's 13. For someone not really known as a top performer in T20 cricket as compared to the other two formats, Shami takes great pride in his IPL show too.
"Whenever I've been given the white ball, I've tried my 100% to perform well, and I've done that too. If you see the (records of) the last three (IPL) seasons, no one has taken more wickets than me. I feel that whenever I've been given a responsibility/role, I've fulfilled it," asserted the experienced quick bowler.
'Told Hardik to control his emotions'
Not many expected allrounder Hardik Pandya succeeding as a captain of the Gujarat Titans, but the man has left everyone impressed with his leadership skills and the results that he's achieved. Shami revealed a key piece of advice that, as a senior teammate, he passed on to 'Captain Pandya' before IPL-15 kicked off.
"You've seen his nature-he's a bit aggressive, and chilled out too. Since he's assumed the captaincy, he's become very 'normal.' His 'reactions on TV' are lesser. I had told him: 'Bhai, there's a lot of responsibility on you now, and you've to fulfil it. You've to take that load of finding out which player to use when. So, please control your reactions on the ground.' Because the whole world watches cricket, and things get blown up on media/social media these days. He's like the head of the family. It's necessary to be sensible, understand the situation, and he's played that role well. In the first two games, there was a bit of a rush in his mind, but after 12 games, he appears to be very sensible and chilled out. He's managing things very nicely now," praised Shami.
"Captaining for the first time is never easy on any player, that too on such a big platform. Compared to how he was as a player to how he's as a captain, I've seen a lot of changes in him," he concluded.
