IND vs SA, 1st Test: India Missed Mohammed Shami Dearly In Centurion, Feels Dinesh Karthik

Centurion: The Indian team clearly missed Mohammed Shami in the ongoing first Test against South Africa as the hosts punished the visitors at SuperSports Park dearly, felt former batting Dinesh Karthik. In seaming friendly conditions, where the Indian batters struggled on the first day, Dean Elgar led the South African batting with a brilliant 185. Shami was ruled out of the Test series against South Africa due to a heel injury.

Karthik opined that India would have been in better position had Shami been available. “The man has grown in stature as a bowler and as a leader of the pack. He is an able lieutenant to Jasprit Bumrah. You can imagine with the upright seam on this kind of pitch,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.

“I promise you, he would have definitely gotten a few wickets. The Indian team really misses him.” In the absence of Shami, the likes of Elgar and Marco Jansen simply toiled against the Indian bowling attack comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. Notably, Elgar is playing his farewell series.

Although Bumrah and Siraj bowled good spells on Day 2, Karthik felt Krishna and Thakur should have supported their senior teammates more. “Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna going for close to 118 runs in their 27 overs. On the other hand, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj going for just 111 in their 31 overs.

“Siraj was a tad bit expensive, especially in the last spell, they also bowled some brilliant balls. You could see every time they were on, you got the feeling that they could get you a wicket or two. Whereas with Shardul or Prasidh, you had to wait for a batter to make a mistake,” he added.