"Mukesh Kumar would become junior Shami"- Ravichandran Ashwin heaps praise on Indian pacer

Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been impressed with the way Mukesh Kumar has performed in the limited opportunities he has got for the Men in Blue.

Initially seen as a red-ball specialist, Mukesh has grabbed attention with his ability to nail yorkers almost at will. Ashwin believes the Bengal pacer has the ability to develop as the heir of Mohammed Shami.

Here's what Ashwin had to say about Kumar in a video on his YouTube channel:

“I initially thought Mohammad Siraj would become the junior Shami, but I now feel it could be Mukesh Kumar. Shami is called ‘Lala’ and as a tribute to the actor Mohanlal who is called Lalettan, I call Shami Lalettan."

He added:

"Mukesh has a similar build, similar height, and outstanding wrist position – he has that great whip of the wrist and terrific back-spin on the ball. He has a very nice straight and nice alignment.

"He had bowled really well in the series in the West Indies and was outstanding at a practice game in Barbados."

---

Ravichandran Ashwin shared an interesting anecdote about Mukesh Kumar

Ravichandran Ashwin opened up on how Mukesh Kumar reached a talent hunt camp in Kolkata and how it just took a couple of deliveries for him to impress former Pakistan legend Waqar Younis.

Ashwin stated:

"When Ganguly took over Cricket Association of Bengal, he had conducted a talent hunt, he had contracted Waqar Younis, VVS Laxman nand Muttiah Muralitharan for that talent hunt program."

He further added:

"Imagine, you are going to bowl in front of Waqar Younis, and you were at the toilet. They had called out his name but he wasn’t there! He returned, waited for 30 minutes and told them that his name wasn’t called out.

"It was then that Waqar Younis, who was about to leave, told him to bowl a couple of balls. Those two deliveries changed his life and he is now bowling for India."

Kumar was impressive for India once again in the first T20I against Australia, with figures of 0/29 in his four overs. He continues to make a strong case for himself to be in the T20 World Cup squad next year.