Mohammed Shami’s experience will be heavily missed by India: Ex-bowling coach Paras Mhambrey

As the first Test of the five-match series between England and India beckons, the latter are without the services of Mohammed Shami. The ace pacer, who is the most experienced pacer in the squad currently, made a formidable pair alongside Jasprit Bumrah on India’s last tour of the United Kingdom, but this time round, only the younger of the two has travelled to spearhead the bowling attack.

Meanwhile, former India bowling coach, Paras Mhambrey, has said that the Indian team will be majorly missed by the pace department. He also mentioned how Shami used to be a perfect bowling partner to Bumrah, but now, it has to be someone like Mohammed Siraj, who is slightly lesser experienced and yet the second-most important addition to the unit.

“You’ve got to miss Shami’s experience, right? Unfortunately, he is not there on the tour. Prior to this, you had three bowlers, experienced bowlers playing together. You have had Shami, Bumrah. You usually had Umesh in between. We played a lot of cricket together then. You don’t have that option out here,” Mhambrey told Hindustan Times.

“The second best from here is Mohammed Siraj. He needs to share the workload with Bumrah. The expectation shouldn’t be that only Bumrah will go out and deliver for you. Siraj needs to shoulder that responsibility and do the job for the team because he is the senior-most after Bumrah out here. Someone like Prasidh has only a few Test matches under his belt, and the same is true for Akash Deep. Arsh [Arshdeep Singh] is on his debut. You don’t want to have that pressure on them,” he added.

Speaking more about the series, the tour will begin with the first Test at Headingley in Leeds, which will get underway on June 20. Both the red-ball heavyweights will then carry the series forward with the next four games in Edgbaston (Birmingham), Lord’s (London), Manchester and finally at The Oval. With Bumrah being available for not more than three Tests in the series, it is going to be an interesting pick on who makes it to the Playing XI for rest of the games.