Shamik Chakrabarty in Dubai
It felt like a déjà vu moment. Mohammed Shami looked to be in some discomfort and the Indian team physiotherapist came rushing to the field to tend to his right calf and ankle. The game was only five overs old after Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat. The fast bowler was wayward to start with. His first over had five wides. Five deliveries in that over were called separately for being wide.
Shami played the 2023 World Cup with an ankle injury. It forced him to go under the surgeon’s knife after the tournament, resulting in an elongated period on the sidelines. He only came back to the Indian team fold this year, in the home white-ball series against England that preceded the Champions Trophy. So, when he left the field after bowling just three overs on Sunday, eyebrows were raised.
Hardik Pandya replaced Shami and bowled an excellent spell. He had Babar Azam’s scalp to show for, but from India’s point of view, Shami returning to the field was more important, looking at the bigger picture. The 34-year-old did come back and take part in the proceedings, bowling eight overs.
Then, in the 15th over, Rohit Sharma left the field, temporarily handing over the captaincy to Shubman Gill. The skipper was back soon. After the match, Shreyas Iyer was asked about whether the team had injury concerns. The middle-order batter, who scored 56 off 67 balls and stitched a match-winning 114-run third wicket partnership with Virat Kohli, allayed fears.
“What I have seen, they (Shami and Rohit) are OK,” Shreyas said at the post-match press conference. “To my knowledge, I don’t think there’s an injury concern in the team.”
Shreyas also spoke about how it was important to rotate the strike during his partnership with Kohli. Boundaries were few and far between and between the two, only 12 fours were hit. But the asking rate was never a problem, as the duo took the singles and couples well.
About Kohli’s hundred, Shreyas said: “He has been training very well. On the match eve, he went for practice about an hour before the rest of us turned up. Looking from the outside, it never looked like Virat was struggling for runs.”
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