'Even Kohli, Rohit hate playing him in nets': Dinesh Karthik reveals 'toughest' Indian bowler to face

Indian spinners dominated the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, helping the hosts earn a 1-0 lead in the crucial four-match series. While all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja starred during Australia’s batting in the first innings, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was at his peak in the third one. Though the pitch in Nagpur did not provide much assistance to the pacers, India’s experienced bowler Mohammed Shami managed to wrap up the game with three wickets to his credit. The veteran seamer might not dominate on India’s spinner-friendly surfaces, but his unparalleled length and line have brought results in several overseas series over the years. However, according to batter Dinesh Karthik, Shami looks even more dangerous during net sessions. The veteran wicketkeeper, while speaking on Cricbuzz show Rise of New India termed the 32-year-old “torture Shami” saying, “In my whole career, he is the toughest bowler I have faced in the nets.” Karthik further revealed that not only he but also world-class batters like Rohit Sharma and Viral Kohli have the same opinion. “He has got me out a couple of times as well in the match. But he has been nasty to play in the nets. I thought I was the only one so then I asked Kohli, and Rohit and they are all legends of the game and they all said they hate playing Shami,” he said. In a detailed explanation for his remark, Karthik highlighted Shami’s “upright seam position” and “natural length” which have the ability to trouble any top batter in world cricket. He noted, “What makes him so special is — all of his strength comes into play in a net session, his upright seam position and his natural length.” However, he labelled the seamer “unlucky” as his length demands a caught-behind or caught at slip in most of the cases. As per Karthik, his lethal deliveries can easily beat the batter but won’t always result in a wicket. Karthik believed that the problem has hampered Shami’s performance in multiple away series as his bowling capability doesn’t reflect on his wicket count. “Shami’s bowling at that nasty length of 6-8 metre mark, where the two major modes of dismissals are caught behind or caught at slip. You can see why he has been unlucky over a period of time as well because that length says that he gets the batsman beaten numerous times but never gets that wicket. He has travelled overseas in series where he constantly ended up being the bad bowler because he is the bowler who gets the most deliveries beaten, but never the number of wickets to show for,” the 37-year-old wicketkeeper explained in detail. Shami has been a crucial component of Team India in all formats since he donned the Blue jersey in 2013. The right-arm quick has played 61 Tests and 87 ODIs so far and has picked up 219 and 159 wickets in the formats. He has also appeared in 23 T20Is in which he has recorded 24 wickets. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.