Four days with Bharat Arun, one new variation: Shami's SRH payoff

Mohammed Shami worked on a new variation four days before the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Lucknow Super Giants game, dismissing Abhishek Sharma with it, LSG's spin bowling coach has revealed.

Speaking on Wednesday (April 8), a day ahead of their fixture against KKR, Carl Crowe said that Shami worked on the new variation with fast bowling coach Bharat Arun just ahead of their fixture in Hyderabad. The same variation accounted for Abhishek off the final ball of the opening over.

The ball, delivered slower and floating outside the off stump, took a thick edge off Abhishek's bat, and travelled to short third-man. The previous ball, Shami had taken out the first slip.

"Would you believe Bharat and Shami worked on a new ball four days before the game, and Shami bowled that ball to dismiss Abhishek," Crowe said.

He praised Shami for continuing to learn new tricks even late into his career and continuing to be effective, in conjunction with Arun, who has worked with him as India's fast bowling coach as well.

"So, I think lots of us out there young cricketers and old cricketers are never too old to learn a new skill," Crowe continued, "and the fact that in four days they learned that new skill, delivered that ball and got Abhishek out, I think it's testament to not only Bharat, his coaching, but also Mohammed Shami's mindset that, as a senior player, he's still very willing to develop new skills, trying to push his game."

Against SRH, Shami completed his quota in the ninth over itself, also using the off-pace variation to dismiss Travis Head and finishing with figures of 4-0-9-2, the most economical spell bowled by anyone since IPL 2021.

When asked if Shami will get a role at the death, or continue to utilised primarily in the Powerplay, Crowe refused to give a definite answer.

"The one thing I do think is when Mohamed Shami's on the run, he's very difficult to play. So, if the ball's swinging around, are there many better guys in India? Probably not. So, you know, you're going to take advantage of that. So, if the ball is swinging, you're going to use it to his strengths".

Shami, Prince Yadav and Avesh Khan were all amongst the wickets, but there was no space for Mayank Yadav in the XI. Crowe said the quality of the attack on offer made it difficult for Mayank to squeeze in.

"Yeah, the beauty of the squad we have is we've got a fantastic range of fast bowlers and it's a luxury to have so many great bowlers at the moment," Crowe said. "I think the focus on guys that are playing than not playing doesn't mean we have huge respect for Mayank and I think everyone in this room knows his potential but at the moment obviously it's a tough side to get into.

"Of course, he's a fantastic bowler, but we've got eight, nine, ten fantastic seam bowlers at the moment getting into the side, tough side to get into. You've seen our bowling in the first two games, it's an impressive bowling attack".