’22-year-old Shami is bowling again’ – Arshdeep Singh praises veteran pacer amidst fitness concerns

Team India coasted to an easy 7-wicket win during the first T20I match against England on Wednesday. Arshdeep Singh led the foundation with two early wickets to bowl out the visitors for 132 runs. The left-arm-pacer dismissed Phil Salt and Ben Duckett to become India’s highest wicket-taker in the T20I format. However, Mohammed Shami, who is making his much-awaited return to the side wasn’t picked for the game which left many fans confused. 

Arshdeep was asked about Shami’s absence from the line-up to which the pacer while speaking on Jio Cinema said, “Just wait for a few more days, and you'll get to see that bowling, and you’ll enjoy it a lot. The way the ball is coming out of his hand makes it look like the 22-year-old Shami Bhai is bowling again”

India’s pacer also mentioned “Just yesterday, I was talking about the same thing with Shami Bhai because when he was bowling, the way the ball was coming out of his hand was absolutely amazing. With every delivery, you would say, 'Wow, how can such an incredible ball come out of someone's hand like this”

Varun Chakravarthy and Abhishek Sharma steal the show against England 

Put into bat first, England were bundled out for 132 with skipper Jos Buttler scoring 68 runs. Spin bowler Varun Chakravarthy was given the man of the match for his figures of 3/22 from four overs. The 33-year-old got the wickets of Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone in a space of three deliveries. 

The biggest scalp of the day was that of Buttler who was caught well by Nitish Kumar Reddy. Speaking at the end of the game, Chakravarthy said “ I am used to seeing such pitches in the IPL. I know that it is for the seamers but I know there are certain lengths which is helpful for me. I am trying to keep it away from their arc, it was holding a bit. Every over, bowling in Eden is challenging”

Sanju Samson began the chase well as he scored 22 runs in the second over off pacer Gus Atkinson. It was then the Abhishek Sharma show as the youngster scored 79 runs from a mere 34 balls with five boundaries and 8 sixes. His best moment of the game was hitting Mark Wood for two successive sixes that set the pulses racing. 

Abhishek Sharma at the end of the game said “ I just wanted to express myself. A special mention to the captain and coach. They have given us a lot of freedom. The way they talk to youngsters, it's tremendous. It was a double-paced wicket. Our bowlers bowled well, they were really good”