'Nothing But Tears For Opposition' - Hayden Lauds Shami's Great Comeback

image-loife96tShami has now taken 14 wickets in 3 matches since his return (Twitter)

Matthew Hayden lauded veteran India seamer Mohammad Shami's staggering comeback at the ICC World Cup 2023 on home shores. The former Australia world champion hailed the experienced pacer's incredible return as he bagged his second five-fer of the tournament on Thursday (November 3).  

With an untimely ankle injury to premier allrounder Hardik Pandya proving to be a blessing for Shami, who couldn't make the line-up until last week, India's first-change seamer has been in devastating mode over the last three matches, taking his 14 wickets with a jaw-dropping average of 6.71. 



Having suppressed the threat posed by the resilient New Zealand side in Dharamsala and the explosive Englishmen in Lucknow with astonishing figures of 5/54 and 4/22 respectively, Shami turned his merciless eyes on the hapless Sri Lankan batting line-up and destroyed them with a match-winning burst of 5/18 in Mumbai. 

Hayden Applauds Shami For Incredible Comeback 

Hayden, who has been following the ongoing World Cup closely in his capacity as a senior commentator, said Shami's influx into a robust and firing Indian bowling attack has meant no respite for opposition batters. 

The Aussie legend was particularly impressed with how the stalwart pacer stuck to his strengths without trying variations for the sake of it against Sri Lanka. As he did versus New Zealand and England, Shami relentlessly tested the batters' techniques, managing to run past the defences while inducing edges on multiple occasions off the full-length delivery. 

"Since Mohammed Shami has come back into this team, there has been nothing but tears for opposition batsmen. He has carved his way through simple (bowling)," Hayden told ESPNcricinfo. 


"There's no mystery, there's not a scrambled seam, there's just a presentation of a seam, a beautiful wrist, and the ability to be able to get into the stumps. If he doesn't do that, he can shape the ball and can move the ball both ways. It's perfection. We often talk about batting in this World Cup, but Mohammed Shami with the ball has been just magnificent."

Shami has certainly cemented his spot for the remainder of the league stage campaign featuring match-ups against South Africa (November 5) in Kolkata and the Netherlands (November 11) in Bangalore. 

It remains to be seen, however, if coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma will stick by the pacer for the semifinal without feeling worried about the batting depth and the No.8 spot when Pandya returns to take his slot at No.6. 

On his part, Shami would've given them immense confidence about the existing combination and could tilt the scales decisively in favour of eight specialists and wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul plus the allround duo of Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja.