Cracks emerge as India star takes swipe at own team
Is this the first sign of cracks emerging within the Indian camp?
India veteran Mohammed Shami has hinted at a discord between the players and management after Nathan Lyon made a mockery of the tourists’ decision not to play a front-line spinner for the second Test.
Lyon bagged five wickets in the first innings in Perth before nabbing two more – including the prized scalp of Virat Kohli – as India went five wickets down on Day 4.
Speaking after play, Shami said he believes his side erred by not picking a front-line spinner.
The tourists opted for a four-prong pace attack as they hunted an unassailable 2-0 series lead over Australia, replacing injured off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin with Umesh Yadav rather than Ravindra Jadeja.
Ashwin’s absence has been made all the more glaring by the form of Lyon, while off-spinning allrounder Hanuma Vihari failed to take a single wicket in the second innings.
Shami, who claimed career-best figures of 6-56 on Monday, opted against toeing the party line when asked about the absence of a tweaker in the XI.
“I feel there should have been a spinner, but these things depend on your management,” Shami told reporters in Hindi.
“The team management makes these decisions. We can’t do anything about it.
“We had one spinner (Vihari) who didn’t bowl badly.”
Lyon, the series’ leading wicket-taker, admitted on Sunday he was surprised India didn’t pick a spinner.
Shami, who inflicted the painful blow to Aaron Finch’s right glove that prompted the opener to retire hurt on day three, consistently extracted good bounce from the demonic pitch in Perth.
The right-armer, who has taken 11 wickets at 18.8 in the series, believes India’s pacemen are much better placed to trouble Australia on this tour compared to his previous visit in 2014-15
“We have an Indian pace attack where all the bowlers are fast and are bowling good lines and lengths,” he said.
“Four years ago we weren’t this experienced. Now we have the experience. You must have seen the difference in our accuracy … (compared to) four years ago.”
with AAP
