Mohammed Shami credits Virat Kohli's captaincy for team's success

The Men in Blue upset world champions, Australia 4-1 in the five-match ODI series, also became the No. 1 team in the ICC ODI rankings. They have already ticked two boxes in Virat Kohli’s mission of becoming the No. 1 team across all formats with just dominance in the shortest format remaining as the last hurdle.

Fast bowler Mohammed Shami has credited the positive environment created under Kohli’s captaincy for the success that the team has enjoyed in recent times. He also added that the repertoire the players share in this team reflects in the team’s approach of ruthlessness and aggression on the field.

“The camaraderie between the members of this team is exceptional and it is actually the reason behind our good performances. It has happened for the first time that all the players enjoy each others success. It is also because of the environment created under Virat Kohli’s captaincy,” Shami told India TV on the sidelines of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season.

Though Team India got the advantage of playing most of the season at home, Shami seemed positive about good results in the upcoming tours overseas- with their calendar slated for South Africa, England and Australia.

He rubbished talks about India being “home track bullies” by saying, “We are confident of performing well overseas because we don’t want to lose the taste of success. We are ready for the challenges and will always give tit for tat reply to the opposition. We don’t shy away from giving it back to our rivals. If our opposition sledges us, we also sledge them back. We don’t have the fear factor in our team,” he added.

Fitness a priority for the team

The UP-born fast bowler also stressed the importance of fitness in international cricket and believes the current Indian pace battery is at par with the world’s best and can trouble top batsmen with their skills. With Umesh Yadav’s evolution in Test cricket, Shami’s consistent performances and the lethal combination of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah during death, the Indian fast bowlers have set the matches up on various occasions as well as defended mediocre scores.

“Team India is a completely changed unit now. There’s a lot of difference between this team and the earlier teams. Earlier, we didn’t have genuine fast bowlers in the team and also someone who bowl reverse. Our bowlers were also not very good at batting and fielding. But this unit is a complete package.  We have bowlers who can bowl at 140 kmph, our fielding standards have gone up and another big plus point is that our last five can bat well,” he said.