Mohammed Shami gives crucial update on Ishant Sharma's fitness

Mohammed Shami has allayed concerns regarding Ishant Sharma's fitness after he bowled some unusually short spells on Day 2 of the Headingley Test against England. Shami said the senior pacer was fully fit and only followed captain Virat Kohli's dictats on Thursday.

India had another tough day at the office in Headingley as England took their first innings lead past 340, losing only eight wickets in the process. Ishant Sharma had a particularly dismal performance as he was the only Indian bowler to return wicketless, that too, after leaking 92 runs from his 22 overs.

"See when sometimes the ball doesn't come well off the bowler's hands or if the team has been on the field for a long time, the captain starts giving short spells of 3-4 overs. You don't need to bowl 7-8 over spells consistently in Test matches. It depends on the situation and the bowler's rhythm as well, that's very important. You must have seen that Ishant started the innings and ended it as well. So there are no doubts about his fitness. It's just that the captain has to see which bowler needs recovery, how many overs to give, how many short or long spells to give. It's the captain's call and not the bowler's," Mohammed Shami said in the post-day press conference.

So Kohli is back in 2014 mode as a batsman... what mode is Ishant Sharma in? pic.twitter.com/1d0EUCY7v3

— Ashish Magotra (@clutchplay) August 26, 2021

Mohammed Shami once again emerged as the best bowler of the day. The right-armer delivered the most overs and picked up three wickets - that of Rory Burns, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler.

"No need to get our heads down" - Mohammed Shami

That's Stumps on Day 2 of the 3⃣rd #ENGvIND Test at Headingley!England reach 423/8 & lead #TeamIndia by 345 runs. 3⃣ wickets for @MdShami11 2⃣ wickets each for @mdsirajofficial & @imjadeja 121 for Joe Root Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/FChN8SDsxh pic.twitter.com/l2C1RcnTxm

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 26, 2021

Mohammed Shami also spoke about the current condition of the pitch and India's possible path ahead in the Test. He said the track had certainly gotten easier to bat on as the match progressed before asking his team to keep their heads high, believe in their skills and put up a big score in the second innings.

"The pitch has become slower and that's why they had it so easy while batting. If it wasn't for that, the result would have been completely different. Yeah, we also got out a bit too early while batting. But we have come to this situation after two days, there's no need to get our heads down. I feel you should always believe in your skills and now think about batting long in the second innings," Mohammed Shami signed-off.

India will most likely manage to keep the lead below 370 in the first innings. After that, it will require a mammoth batting effort from all the batsmen in the lineup, and especially the fragile middle-order, to avoid defeat by over an innings in the game.