Former cricketers hail Mohammed Shami for his sensational six-wicket haul in Perth

The first session of the fourth day between Australia and India went wicketless thanks to the grit shown by Tim Paine and Usman Khawaja. They played out 30 overs without edging the ball despite missing it a plethora of times. The lead had swelled past 230 and things were slipping past India. But once the second session began, the bowlers, especially Mohammed Shami, came out hostile and suddenly, the batting looked impossible.

Shami was the wrecker-in-chief as Australia collapsed to 198/8 from 190/4. It all started with a snorter of a delivery to Paine as the ball reared up from the short of a good length area as the batsman prodded forward and hit his gloves. The ball lobbed for Virat Kohli to snaffle an easy catch. Soon, the pitch spiced up and even Jasprit Bumrah got into the action.

But Shami was getting wickets with his pace and bounce. Aaron Finch was also bounced out down the leg-side as he was tentative with his finger injury. Khawaja also lost his concentration with a lot happening at the other end to fend an edge to Rishabh Pant who was having a field day behind the stumps.

Shami continues to thrive in the second innings

Mohammed Shami’s love affair with the second innings of a Test match continued. He completed a sensational five-wicket haul by sending back the dangerous Khawaja and also picked a sixth in form of Nathan Lyon. The fast bowler also hit Lyon’s helmet with a vicious bouncer courtesy the cracks on the pitch.

It was such a hostile spell of bowling from Shami that even though the scales of the game were in favour of the hosts, everyone hailed him for his efforts. It had certainly helped India comeback in the contest only for Australia‘s last pair to hurt the visitors. Having said that, Shami had set the stage on fire for an hour after the lunch to light up the Optus Stadium.

Here’s how cricketers reacted to his spell:

Shami bowled very well on this wicket, the Aussie bowlers will have their turn now! #starc150plus

— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) December 17, 2018

Sensational Shami….grows in stature in the second innings. Average down to 24 from 35 and strike-rate down to 45 from 60. #ausvind #7cricket @7Cricket @1116sen

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) December 17, 2018

Glad to see such consistent fiery bowling by our pace attack. @MdShami11 has been exceptional today. Your 6 wickets have been an absolute joy to watch. #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/w15XJQDLzB

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) December 17, 2018

Shami on fire 🔥 🔥🔥🔥🔥 @MdShami11 @BCCI

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) December 17, 2018

Great to see the ‘blow hot, blow cold’ bowler being red hot this year. Well done Mohd Shami! So happy for him.👏👏👏🙏

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) December 17, 2018

Outstanding after lunch. Shami absolute beauty

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) December 17, 2018

Great come back by the Indian bowlers 👏👏. This Perth Pitch is playing tricks though #AusvIndia

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) December 17, 2018

Time and again @MdShami11 proves why he is so wanted by the captain and management. Extremely valuable final outbreak from Aussie tail.#AUSvIND #Shami

— R P Singh (@rpsingh) December 17, 2018

Brilliant hostile Spell from @MdShami11 – High on Pace, bounce and with plenty of accuracy. Having said that India will have to pull off a record 4th innings chase to win this. The Indian openers will have to rise to the occasion to give us a good start. Onus on them #AUSvIND

— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) December 17, 2018

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