Hamilton,Mar 9: He has impressed with his miserly bowling effort in the ongoing cricket World Cup but seamer Mohit Sharma says credit also goes to the new ball bowlers Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav, who have put the rival batsmen under lot of pressure.
Mohit has got six wickets in four matches but more importantly has been among the most economical of Indian bowlers with an economy rate of 3.90. “The way Shami and Umesh bhai are bowling, it has helped me a lot. They have been bowling really well and have been able to exert a lot pressure up-front. My job is to maintain that pressure, so that Ashwin and Jadeja are benefitted from it later on,” Mohit said at the pre-match press conference on the eve of their match against Ireland.
“So it helps me a lot that the batsmen are under pressure and my job then will be to bowl to my strengths which I have been doing for the last 10 years.”
Mohit has got wickets with short-pitched deliveries and feels that a lot of batsmen are taken aback by the pace of his bouncers.
“Nobody expects my bouncer to come so fast because it skids as well. That’s a plus for me because my bouncer catches the batsmen off guard and as a result there will either a top edge or they will get beaten. I have been hit for fours and sixes also off my bouncers but that’s how it goes,” said the 23-year-old Haryana seamer.
The Rohtak-born Mohit agreed that although they have bowled well as unit, they do have room for improvement as they are yet to be truly ‘tested’ in slog overs.
“Well, there’s no limit to doing well, what we have to keep in mind is that we have not yet faced any pressure situation. We haven’t had to bowl in the slog overs and there are other things where we have the scope to do well.”
The youngster also agreed that Seddon Park being comparatively much smaller ground than Adelaide Oval, MCG or the WACA would need to adjust the length on this ground.
“There will be a difference in your thinking when you have to play in smaller grounds after playing in big grounds for a long time. You will have to change your lines, but we can’t keep thinking too much about the size of the ground.
“It’s the same for both teams, what we have to do is concentrate on our strength and try and do the best of our abilities,” Mohit said.
Although he was included after Ishant Sharma was ruled out, Mohit said that the time he spent and the match-time he got at Perth during the tri-nation ODI series was worthwhile.
“I don’t think I had any less to time acclimatise to the conditions as I was part of the tri-series which was played over more than two weeks, which I think is good enough to get the hang of conditions.
“Being professionals, we do realize what to do and what not to. I played a match in Perth also, so I had the understanding of the conditions. We have been practising hard in the nets and that helps a lot too. So there wasn’t great difficulty is adjusting to the conditions.”
Although Ishant couldn’t be part of the campaign, Mohit said that his inputs have been invaluable.
“When I came over to Australia, Ishant helped me a lot. During our training sessions, he helped with his inputs like what should be the length with the new ball and with the old ball. Ishant has visited Australia twice, so he has the experience and is quite aware of the conditions there.
“It helped a great deal that we used to discuss these things during practice sessions. And all of us–the five bowlers used to spend a lot time together so that we can share our experiences with each other.
India’s fielding has been good on most occasions barring last match where they dropped four catches but the pacer said that fielding coach R Sridhar is “working hard with the boys.”
