Arshdeep Singh dismisses injury speculations for Mohammed Shami after 1st T20I – India TV

Team India took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series with a rather comfortable victory by seven wickets in the first T20I against England at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. On a greenish wicket, that had something for the bowlers at the start, India restricted England to a low score of 132 runs and eventually chased it down with more than seven overs remaining as the wicket got better to bat on. It was an important toss to win and India’s bowling attack, led by Arshdeep Singh, justified the skipper’s call, ably supported by Varun Chakravarthy.

India went in with just one pure seamer in Arshdeep and it paid off as the spinners got too hot to handle for Jos Buttler and Co. Buttler was the only one, who displayed some sort of ability to counter them and still be able to play at a strike rate while others were just like a cat on a hot tin roof. 

Arshdeep became India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is but it was surprising to see no Mohammed Shami in the XI after all the build-up and buzz before the start of the series. Since Shami was set to return for the first time at the highest level in 14 months, there were speculations that he wasn’t fully fit but Arshdeep dismissed them suggesting that he might be seen in the XI in the coming games.

“Just yesterday, I was talking about the same thing with Shami Bhai because when he was bowling, the way the ball was coming out of his hand was absolutely amazing. With every delivery, you would say, ‘Wow, how can such an incredible ball come out of someone’s hand like this!’,” Arshdeep told the broadcaster in a post-match interview.

“Just wait for a few more days, and you’ll get to see that bowling, and you’ll enjoy it a lot. The way the ball is coming out of his hand makes it look like the 22-year-old Shami Bhai is bowling again,” the left-arm seamer added. Asked about Shami’s absence in the post-match press conference, the star with the bat for India, Abhishek Sharma said, “I feel it’s the decision of the team management and they thought it’s a better option keeping in mind of these conditions.”

Abhishek slammed his third fifty-plus score in T20Is as he kept going for his shots and got the rewards on a wicket that got better in the second innings and with shorter boundaries. Abhishek ended up scoring a whirlwind 79 off just 34 as India made short work of the modest total.