Mohammed Shami impresses as Bengal power into Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy quarters

BENGALURU: Mohammed Shami, the cynosure at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, played an important role to help Bengal secure a three-run win over Chandigarh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here on Monday.
Shami, egged on by a vocal crowd, registered his highest T20 score of 32* (17b, 3x4, 2x6) to post 159/9 after his team at one point struggled at 114/8 in their pre-quarterfinal match. However, the focus was on his bowling fitness with the Indian team management also keeping a close tab for a possible return to the national squad for the remainder of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
The pacer took just three balls to send back Chandigarh opener Arslan Khan in the very first over. He stifled batters with his pace, touching around 135-140 kmph, and at times cramped the batsmen as he caught them leaden-footed. Shami looked back to be at his best as he bowled three overs during the powerplay without any fuss. He ran in at full steam and also got the new ball to move bothways.
Though skipper Rohit Sharma recently spoke about a swelling on Shami’s knee during the domestic T20 competition, the fast bowler did not look in any discomfort. Even while running between the wickets, the star player looked sharp. However, if anything, the 34-year-old did get some back massage for a brief period after the powerplay. He took to the field two overs later with Chandigarh on 54/3 in eight overs.
Watching the senior India pacer in action was Nitin Patel, head of BCCI’s Sports Science wing at the new Centre of Excellence. His team’s nod is vital if Shami is to leave for Australia anytime soon. Led by Shami, Bengal bowlers had the upper hand but Raj Bawa (32, 20b, 3x4, 1x6) looked in good knick. The latter was involved in a 45-run fifth-wicket stand with Pardeep Yadav and followed it with a 28-run partnership with Nikhil Sharma.
Four-wicket win for UP
Karan Sharma’s 31-ball 48 helped UP defeat AP by six wickets in the other match.
Brief scores: Bengal: 159/9 (Karan Lal 33, Writtick Chatterjee 28, Pradipta Pramanik 30, Mohammed Shami 32*; Jagjit Singh 4-21, Raj Bawa 2-27) bt Chandigarh: 156-9 in 20 overs (Bawa 32; Kanishk Seth 2-35, Sayan Ghosh 4-30).
Andhra 156-6 (SDNV Prasad 34; Vipraj Nigam 2-20) lost to Uttar Pradesh 157-6 in 19 overs (Karan Sharm 48; K Sudarshan 3-22).