Australians lost by six runs after losing four wickets in four balls in the last over – Shami’s first and only over of the match.
Brief Score: Indians 186 for 7 (Rahul 57, Suryakumar 50, Richardson 4-30) beat Australians 180 (Finch 76, Marsh 35, Shami 3-4, Bhuvneshwar 2-20) by six runs
Mohammed Shami didn’t bowl until the final over of the Australians vs. Indians warm-up match, but what a comeback it was for him. Ashton Agar ran himself out, Virat Kohli took a magnificent one-handed catch backtracking at long-on, Shami bowled a yorker off the final two balls to end with 3 for 4, and Ashton Agar ran himself out. That’s it. In Brisbane, the Indians rallied from behind to win by six runs.
In the warm-up game against Australia on Monday in Brisbane, Mohammed Shami improved his chances of making India’s playing XI for the T20 World Cup by bowling a fierce, game-winning over that helped his team win. Shami, who hasn’t been in a T20I match for India since the World Cup last year, didn’t make the playing XI but entered the game to bowl the game’s final over with Australia needing 11 runs to win. And while India defeated Australia by six runs at the Gabba, Shami, who was formally chosen as Jasprit Bumrah’s substitute by the BCCI last week, took three wickets while only conceding four runs.
Despite the fact that Shami gave two doubles off the first two balls of the over, what followed was unexpected. Pat Cummins was dismissed by Shami after being caught in the deep by Virat Kohli, who produced a one-handed screamer at long on. With seven needed off of two Shami ran out Ashton Agar at the non-striker end. Australia’s dreams of tying the match was ruined by Shami, who bowled Australia out for 180 after removing Kane Richardson with a blazing yorker and knocking over Josh Inglis with the penultimate delivery.
With Bumrah out injured, India’s death bowling issues have surfaced. Shami’s memorable over promises to address these issues. India have a strong bowling attack with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshal Patel, but it lacked genuine pace because none of the three quicks are express bowlers. For a while, it appeared that Shami needed more time, and with each day that went by, the likelihood of the India speedster showing up for the Pakistan match decreased. But when Australia least expected it, captain Rohit Sharma pulled an ace and released Shami. As soon as Shami entered the game, he bent over backwards to send the home team away.
Shami was a late addition; in fact, he was a late replacement for Bumrah. Shami was selected for the Australia T20I series, but his return was delayed due to Covid, which also ruled him out of the South Africa T20Is and ODIs. Shami was at the NCA, working hard in preparation for his return, and if his Instagram story of boarding a trip to Australia wasn’t enough, the fact that he clean bowled Dinesh Karthik in the nets a day ago was.
If there was any concerns about Shami’s match-fitness, today was a good day to put that to rest. With one more World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand left, expect Shami to come out firing and bowl all four overs to persuade team management that he is actually match-ready.
Besides Shami, the other stars were KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav, both of whom struck important half-centuries to help India reach 186/7. Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya were unable to get started, while Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik made starts but failed to convert. Australia responded well, with openers Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Finch putting up 41 fast runs.
However, Australia’s middle order was very underwhelming, with no one other than the top four reaching double figures. Finch top-scored with 76 and fought until the 18th over, when he was trapped by a Harshal slower delivery, but Indian bowlers held their nerves to secure a close but well-earned six-run victory.
