India Need Mohammed Shami the Bowler to Turn Up at England

Mohammed Shami walked out to bat on fifth day at Southampton at a time when India's fate in the third Test was all but sealed. He negotiated eight balls, albeit gingerly, before being flummoxed by a Moeen Ali delivery. His wicket meant England were within sniffing distance of leveling the series with a daunting victory at Ageas Bowl.

Little could you blame Shami for not trying to hold fort, as some of the top-order batsmen failed to negotiate Moeen, who finished with figures of 6/67 in the second innings. However, with just five wickets in as many innings so far, Shami has failed prove his worth in England.

That his best moment in the series so far has been the longest 10th wicket partnership in England with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (111 runs) speaks volumes of how he has done with the ball in his hand.

Just six months ago, he seemed like a completely different bowler, running in with long stride and trying to do something with every delivery to the Kiwi batsmen in the second Test at Auckland. Shami was being talked about for his skill with an old ball, deception, a few extra yards of pace by Indian standards and an excellent seam position.

Shami was the hardworking pacer who had risen through the ranks with relentless accuracy and ticking a few extra boxes that many Indian bowlers tried and failed at. He was instantly MS Dhoni's favourite, who did not stop short of praising his young speedster at every opportunity.

Yet, in a long and gruelling series in England, Dhoni is perhaps missing one of his favourite bowlers who has failed to impress so far. One could be excused for being ineffective on the docile Trent Bridge track in the first Test, but his inability to work wonders on the green-top at Lord's turned out to be a major area of concern.

While Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma (specifically in the second innings) pitched up and banged it short based on the requirements and the condition of the wicket, Shami was found going astray in his line and failing to maintain a length that could have put the batsmen in a spot of bother. His pitch map across all three Tests shows he just couldn't pitch the ball up for his movement off the air as well as the wicket to have any kind of impact. (Pujara, Kohli drop in ICC Rankings)

 

The third Test at Southampton was an excellent opportunity for Shami to shrug off his poor start and take centre-stage in the absence of the Lord's hero Ishant but there was very little change in the scheme of things.  

With Ishant confirmed to miss the next Test at Manchester and Bhuvneshwar's availability hanging in the balance due to a reported swollen ankle, Dhoni has a few headaches to tackle. The 'highs' of the Lord's Test win have only been met by a horrible hangover, one that India are still to get out of. With England finding the bit of missing spark and the news of James Anderson being let off after the Jadeja controversy, the pressure is only mounting on the visitors.

If Bhuvneshwar is ruled out of the Manchester Test starting on August 7, Dhoni will be left with Pankaj Singh, Mohammed Shami, Varun Aaron and Ishwar Pandey to choose his fast bowling attack from. Dhoni's admission that he will have to re-think his four-bowler strategy, which back-fired in Southampton, only means he could consider bringing back Stuart Binny to share a bit of the bowling responsibility.

Irrespective of whether Dhoni is forced to include Binny again or go with the extra pace of Aaron, India will need Shami to strike now more than ever.