Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar’s suggestion for India’s rising pace sensation Mohammed Shami is to “work on his run-up” as he feels the talented pacer “has the potential to serve Indian cricket for a long time”.
“Whatever I’ve seen, Mohammed Shami is the best fast bowler that India has at the moment. He’s talented and should be nurtured with a lot of care. But I think he has one basic technical flaw in his bowling. His run-up to the crease isn’t very smooth and he needs to work on that aspect in order to get better in the coming days,” Akhtar said here on Monday.
Asked to elaborate on what he meant about run-up problem, Akhtar said, “I think his run-up isn’t a measured and consistent one. It looks at times that he’s labouring to the crease. That shouldn’t be the case. They should’ve a smooth action because that will help generate a lot of pace on a consistent basis. Shami, I believe, will serve Indian cricket for a long time, if he can work on that aspect.”
The 38-year-old, who has played 46 Tests and 163 ODIs for Pakistan in a career spanning over 13 years, feels strongly that fast bowlers should abstain from playing T20 cricket in order to keep that “fear-factor” in the batsmen. “I know it’s a difficult ask but I feel that fast bowlers should stop playing T20 cricket. Having said that, I’m not for once saying that they are incapable of playing the format, look at the pitches and playing conditions. It’s heavily loaded in favour of batsmen,” Akhtar said.
“T20 cricket has done one thing. T20 has completely diminished the fear about tearaway quicks, that used to be earlier there in the minds of the batsmen. The finest bowlers can be belted over their heads by batsmen who are just hitting through the line.”
“Once the fear factor is gone, the batsmen also don’t have any apprehension about the fast bowlers even when they are facing them in Test and ODI cricket. If you want to preserve good fast bowlers for the longer version, which is still sacrosanct, then you need to do away with quicks in shorter format. Otherwise, make some rules for the fast bowlers to survive. Authorities should think about them and not only about batsmen,” he added.