New Delhi: A fit-again Indian paceman Mohammad Shami answered to his captain Virat Kohli’s SoS when he landed in Dharamsala ahead of the fourth and final Test, starting on Saturday.
Kohli had hinted after the end of the third Test that Shami may figure in the fourth Test and while there is still no official announcement on whether Shami has been included, Kohli had made it clear that he would have a word with the selectors and look at the option of including the pacer in the squad. While the rest of the team arrived in Dharamsala on Tuesday evening, Shami reached the picturesque city on Wednesday morning.
Shami picked up a knee injury during the Test series against England and was subsequently rested for the limited over series against England and the one off Test against Bangladesh.
But he was still not match fit and thus missed the first three Test matches of the series against Australia. If the selectors agree and Shami is included in the team, it will be a well-timed return for the pacer as the series is level at 1-1 and both teams will look to win the fourth Test and subsequently win the series.
Meanwhile, injured Australian paceman Mitchell Starc has remarked that India are scared of losing the home series and that is the reason behind their repeated barbs against the visiting cricketers,
Starc, who left the tour midway due to stress fracture in his foot, said the defeat in the series-opener in Pune rattled India and that’s why the hosts have adopted such defensive tactics.
“It’s probably come a lot more from their side than ours. There’s been a lot made of it before the series, there was so much hype before the series, and I think we’ve gone about the cricket as we have done for a long time now,” Starc told Fox Sport.
“They were scared of us, beating them in India the way they’ve been playing as well. So it was almost a defensive mechanism for them and obviously they come out in the second Test match, performed really well and got back into it.”
Talking about Matt Renshaw, the paceman appeared mighty impressed with the young opener.
“The more time he spends out in the middle the less time we have to listen to him. He’s different but he’s a lovely kid. Loves his cricket, just loves batting — so I think that’s obviously shown in how he’s gone about his cricket in India.
