INDORE: It was that time in the afternoon when the ball goes soft, the stands go silent, while a few take a nap after a good meal, waiting for the tea break to arrive. However good the contest is, that phase usually witnesses a period of lull. That’s when Virat Kohli decides it is time to wake everyone up.
The ball is old. The spinners need rest. That’s when Kohli tosses the ball to one of his pacers, hoping for them to get some reverse swing. As the bowler goes to his run-up, Kohli turns to the crowd and gestures them to shout their hears out to get some adrenaline pumping. Invariably, chants of “Kohli, Kohli,” fill the air.
Then he points to the crowd and asks them to chant the bowler’s name. In a place like the Holkar Stadium, the noise made by 12,000 can really take a toll on eardrums.
The Indian pacer with the ball then starts producing the magic that used to be associated with Pakistan teams of the past. The soft red ball starts reversing; not just millimetres, but by yards.
This bowler finds extra spring in his steps. Almost every team to have played in India in recent years have experienced Mohammed Shami’s wrath with the old ball.
On Thursday, it was Bangladesh’s turn to face the music. It is a phase of the day that Shami likes. He is somewhat similar to those Pakistani bowlers who had unmatched control over the old ball than the new one. Statistically too, Shami prefers bowling when the red ball begins to get soft as this CricViz data shows.
Since 2002, among pacers who have bowled with a ball that is over 40 overs old, Shami’s average of 21.1 is the third best among active cricketers. Kagiso Rabada averages 16.1 and Vernon Philander 18.5.
Watching Shami bowl with the old ball is a different kind of thrill, even if it is only lasts for an over or so. Till the time he took the ball with tea approaching, Mushfiqur Rahim had hardly put a foot wrong. After rescuing his side from early jitters, he was looking to rebuild post-tea.
Shami came in for bowl his fourth spell with four overs to go. Rahim knew this would only be a short burst.
The first over was erratic, but there were signs of the ball reversing. Ishant Sharma confirmed it in the next before Shami came in for the last over before tea.
The first four balls didn’t trouble Rahim at all, but Shami had planted seeds of doubt in the batsman’s mind by altering between conventional and reverse swing. Then came the fifth one. Released from wide of the crease, it landed around good length like all of Shami’s venomous deliveries, as Rahim first shaped to leave it.
Conventional or reverse? That doubt roiling around in his mind made Rahim try and open the face of the bat. But this one swung back sharp and before he even knew, the off-stump was gone.
In another five overs, Bangladesh would slip from 140/5 to 150 all out as India took a firm grip on the first Test riding another exceptional show from their attack led by pacers.