"Mohammad Shami can nick off or bowl out any batter on his day" - Gautam Gambhir on Indian seamer's similar approach in red and white-ball cricket

Gautam Gambhir has pointed out that Mohammad Shami's upright seam position allows him to follow a similar approach in both red and white-ball cricket.

Shami is part of the 17-member Indian squad for the ongoing Asia Cup. The Men in Blue will open their campaign in the tournament with an eagerly anticipated Group A clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in Pallekele on Saturday, September 2.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Gambhir was asked about his thoughts on Shami saying in an interview that he has a similar game plan in Tests and limited-overs cricket, to which he responded:

"Shami can say this thing because he has that quality. Shami has that seam position. Probably no other bowler might be so relaxed or going in with such a simple game plan."

The former Indian opener added:

"He knows that if his seam hits the pitch, whether it is the white ball or the red ball, the ability this bowler has, Mohammad Shami can nick off or bowl out any batter on his day."

Shami has picked up 162 wickets at an excellent strike rate of 27.8 in 89 ODI innings. He has registered a five-wicket haul and nine four-wicket hauls, with a best of 5/69 against England in the 2019 World Cup.

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"You can check Mohammad Shami's game plan in the IPL as well" - Gautam Gambhir

Mohammad Shami was the Purple Cap winner in IPL 2023. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Gautam Gambhir highlighted that Mohammad Shami follows a similar strategy in the Indian Premier League as well. He said:

"When you have an ability like that, you don't complicate things too much and don't think too much. When you think too much, you try to do different things. You can check Mohammad Shami's game plan in the IPL as well."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the Gujarat Titans seamer doesn't need to resort to variations to be successful even in the shortest format. He explained:

"He bowls Test match length in the first six overs and if he comes to bowl at the death, then yorkers. It is not that he bowls slower cutters or slower bouncers. He doesn't have any variations like that because he has that quality. If he didn't have that quality, he would have needed the other variations."

It will be interesting to see if India field all three specialist seamers against Pakistan. They might opt to play either Shami or Mohammed Siraj with Jasprit Bumrah, with one of Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur playing as a bowling all-rounder to add depth to the batting.