'My bouncer is deceptive'

Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav have been outstanding operating with the new ball as India have turned in a new leaf in the World Cup. Their efforts, however, would have been undermined had Mohit Sharma, the third seamer in a 3-2 attack, come unstuck.

His six wickets from four matches may not ring a bell, but what those returns don’t really reveal is the way he has managed to keep pressure that Shami and Yadav have managed to exert on the batsmen with the new ball. Mohit doesn’t blast the batsmen away as much as he beguiles them to their doom. His stoop and hop run-up and a largely medium pace bowling, don’t inspire any fear or awe among the batsmen but that’s the mistake many of them do. And Mohit knows that without being arrogant about it.

“If you are a fast bowler, you do tend to bowl bouncers,” he said when asked about how he has managed to perfect his bouncer. “Yes, there is pace and bounce in these wickets but nobody expects my bouncer to come so fast because it skids as well. That’s a plus for me because my bouncer skids a lot which catches the batsmen off guard and as a result there will be 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,” he explained.

Mohit has complemented Shami and Yadav by sustaining the pressure but he realises that Indian attack is yet to be tested. “What I feel is we have done pretty well as a unit – all five of us have done really well. But there’s no limit to doing well... What we have to keep in mind is that we have not yet faced pressure situations. We haven’t had to bowl in the slog overs and there are other things where we have a scope to do well.”

The Haryana paceman, who replaced the injured Ishant Sharma in the World Cup squad, understands his responsibility. “The way Shami and Umesh bhai are bowling, it has helped me a lot,” he noted. “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 (R) Ashwin and (Ravindra) Jadeja are benefitted from it later. So, it helps me a lot that the batsmen are under pressure and my job then will be to bowl to my strengths,” he reasoned.