CHENNAI: East Zone were a spinner short. They had to use part-time spinners through the course of the day. The temperatures were sky-high and humidity in Chennai did not help either. And yet, none of it deterred Ishan Kishan and Co to put up a disciplined bowling performance on Day 3, leaving South Zone in tatters.
Sure, it helped that they had 708 runs on the board, but what stood out on Tuesday was the precise planning and consistency with which Mohammed Shami led the attack.
The numbers are there to see. Shami bowled 11 of the 80 overs, delivered four maidens and took 2/17. His partner Mukesh Kumar bowled 12, took 2/36 with one maiden over. And they operated in short spells. Shami's first spell was three overs, second one was four and then he came back later in the day for another. In between, there were breaks, even some time off the field, but when he was running in with the red cherry in hand, the 36-year-old did what he does best — made the ball talk.
He extracted some swing early on with the new ball, but more importantly, he was reversing it into the right-handers not too long after. And that resulted in the dismissal of Shaik Rasheed where he was trapped on the pads. Later, he took it away from left-hander R Smaran to induce an outside edge.
Short spells, hard lengths, hitting the seam consistently to extract sideways movement — something South Zone and Mohammed Siraj struggled to do for two days — sounds so simple in theory. However, it is not as easy as Shami made it look.
For Mukesh, who was watching Shami from the other end, it was about ensuring that the ball lands on the seam. He would explain as much after the day's play. "Naturally, we constantly talk to him (Shami) about how to hit the seam and how to present it. He keeps sharing pointers, and we try to apply them. For me, the harder I pound the deck and hit the seam, the more the ball will kick, regardless of the wicket. That’s one part of it," Mukesh said. "The other part is working on the ball-applying sweat repeatedly, polishing it, and preparing it for reverse swing. On red soil like this, balls tend to scuff up and lose condition quickly. It comes down to how well you shine it and look after it; that’s crucial for reverse swing. We worked on that, and it gave us movement," he added.
The Bengal pacer explained how the plan was to pull the lengths back and attack the stumps. With South Zone having a steep mountain to climb and the pitch not offering much, they tried to keep the batters quiet and reaped the rewards. Another aspect where South bowlers fell short as they were barely able to bowl maidens on the opening day of the match.
One such example was the dismissal of Devdutt Padikkal where Mukesh kept it full and on the stumps with two fielders deep on the leg side. "The plan against Devdutt was to bowl stump-to-stump because if I bowled outside off, we knew he was coming off two centuries in Sri Lanka. On wickets like this, if you offer width to batters, runs will leak. Our plan as fast bowlers was to stay as consistent as possible and bowl dot balls, letting them take the risks. They would try to force the pace and get out because they need to score runs," Mukesh explained. "I didn't pitch it too full here. If I bowled full, it would invite cover drives and similar shots. So, pulling the length back slightly to back-of-a-length on this red soil — if you hit the deck hard and put effort into it, the ball kicks. We worked a lot on that," he added.
Tuesday's play was a practical example of how Shami is still up there in terms of skill and execution even among his contemporaries. And how, there is a lot left to be desired when it comes to other pacers. He may not be the same Shami he was ten years ago, but at 36, Shami showed why he stands tall. And how the likes of Mukesh, and Siraj can take a leaf out of his book and execute it to the best of their abilities.
