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Former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed feels that Mohammed Shami is the best Indian paceman on view and his performance has been key to India's good show in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup.
Shami has been the pick of India's pace attack taking 9 wickets from three matches and his opening spell has proved to be crucial in India maintaining their stronghold in the group league stage.
"For me the best bowler in this Indian line-up is Mohammed Shami. He has every ingredient of a good fast bowler and is an asset to the Indian team. I am also impressed by young Mohit Sharma and believe that he would turn out to be a good weapon for India in future," Aaqib, who is currently the UAE coach.
‘Shami has the ability to work up brisk pace’
When quizzed about what aspect of Shami impresses him the most, Aaqib said, “The first thing that one looks in a fast bowler is pace and Shami has the ability to work up brisk pace. Also what made the difference is the length that he has hit consistently in the past few games. Against Pakistan, his length and the channel at which he bowled has been exceptional.
"Australia is one country where you need a pace bowler to bend his back and hit the deck hard. Shami can hit the deck hard at the correct length. If he can continue this form in the knockout stages, India will be a difficult country to beat in this tournament," said Aaqib, who had 182 ODI wickets from 163 ODIs between 1989 and 1998.
‘Mohit has natural ability to surprise you’
Besides Shami, Aaqib was particularly impressed with Mohit Sharma as well. "Mohit has natural ability to surprise you which is a good weapon to have in any seamer's armoury. He doesn't look very quick from a distance but if one carefully analyses his bowling, he would suddenly increase his pace by at least 5 kmph which is very impressive."
"In between the steady deliveries, he would bowl that one 'heavy ball' that can surprise the best. It's like hitting 132-135 kmph and one delivery would suddenly hit 140 kmph," explained Aaqib.
Aaqib, however, wasn’t impressed with young Umesh Yadav.
"Umesh has got the potential but he is very erratic. The pace at which he bowls, he needs to bowl on one side of the wicket. He can just spray it all over. He needs to maintain that one line at which he would bowl," said Aaqib.
‘Pakistan haven’t done their homework well’
Ask him about Pakistan’s recent performance and he would tell you that he is happy to see the sub-continent team gain some much-needed momentum.
"For winning a World Cup, one needs to do proper homework, which I have seen lacking in Pakistan. It's funny that what we used to do in our times and India didn't, that aspect of Indian cricket has changed. Now we don't do our homework and India does their bit," the 42-year-old lamented.
Aaqib feels that Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a leader, has been "inspirational" and "always looks in control of the situation."
"Dhoni earns tremendous respect from his teammates and that's what good leadership is all about," he concluded.