India's newest weapon Shami 'reverses' the trend

What a difference a fast bowler makes. Mohammad Shami got the ball to reverse swing to devastating effect and ripped through the West Indies batting line-up a second time as Darren Sammy, Shane Shillingford and Sheldon Cottrell all got deliveries that swung viciously late to lose their stumps. It was a thrilling sight; one that used to be associated with the visiting side while India has long been the land of mysticism and spin. But these West Indies are not those West Indies and Shami is proving this India doesn’t have to be that India either. He finished with figures of 5 for 47 in the second innings and 9 for 118 in the match, the second best debut figures for a bowler after Narendra Harwani, and the best by an Indian fast bowler. [caption id=“attachment_1219187” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  He finished with figures of 5 for 47 in the second innings and 9 for 118 in the match. BCCI[/caption] Dhoni is clearly a fan. “You need a bit of pace if you want to dominate,” India’s captain said after the match. “He has very good seam positioning which means he can reverse away from the right-handers too. On a wicket that has more bounce he can move the ball both ways.” Again, Shami did little damage with the new ball. Chris Gayle took a liking to him early, striking him for five boundaries in his first three overs, which went for 21 runs. Dhoni promptly brought on R Ashwin, and waited until the 29th over to bring Shami back. He struck one over later, moving the ball away from Marlon Samuels before getting one to reverse back in and hit Samuels on the knee roll. Replays showed the ball would have missed leg stump, but umpire Llong was convinced. He got Ramdin to nick one to short leg via the pad with another delivery that seamed in and cramped the batsman. Then came the over that shattered any faint hopes West Indies might have had of even making India bat again. Shami produced a vicious inswinger that gave Sammy no chance of keeping it out, then did the same to Shillingford with his next delivery. Shami narrowly missed out on his hat-trick, with Veerasammy Permaul stuck on the boot with another full inswinger, but the umpire was not convinced. At this point, the crowd was wildly behind the fast bowler and was urging him to take another wicket so he could finish with five in the innings. Shami duly obliged a few overs later by bowling Cottrell for a second time to wrap up the innings and the match. The Eden Gardens wicket was one that was supposed to help the spinners, especially on days four and five. Shami ensured it never got there with some quality reverse-swing that is especially hard for tailenders to cope with. One of India’s traditional problems has been knocking sides over after making early breakthroughs, in part because the team has lacked a fast bowler capable of terrorising lower order batsman. On this performance, and bear in mind it is just one performance, Shami offers hope that India now have a weapon with the old ball and don’t have to rely on their spinners. Add Umesh Yadav to the mix, and India could potentially have a potent attack outside the country as well. In the four-Test series against Australia, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja combined to take 53 wickets while Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar managed 13 together. Against the West Indies, Shami already has nine all on his own from one Test, while the spinners (Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha) have seven combined. What a difference a fast bowler makes.