Indian bowling will suffer greatly in absence of Mohammed Shami during Australia limited-overs tour

India were dealt a crushing blow when Mohammed Shami was ruled out of the limited-overs series on account of the hamstring injury he picked up during a practice session. India have other quality bowlers, but none have displayed the kind of consistency and accuracy that Shami has especially in the limited-overs game. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was once touted as the next big thing in Indian bowling, has been called up as replacement. But, his control of swing has diminished in recent months. Rishad D’Souza elaborates on the complexities that could arise from the misfortune. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Australia 2015-16, 1st ODI at Perth

From a personal point of view, Shami’s omission from the team will be more than frustrating. After a stellar performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 — half of which he played through pain — Shami was away from the international scene for nine months owing to a knee injury. He underwent surgery, and as he was shaping up for his next big assignment, he was given the awful news that his hamstring pull from a training session rendered him ineligible for the limited-overs series in Australia. Just before the series, Shami had told the media that he was looking to put the previous frustration behind him, oblivious to the undesirable occurrence that was to befall him so very soon. READ: Mohammed Shami out of India vs Australia 2015-16 series, Bhuvneshwar Kumar called as replacement

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From the team’s perspective, the blow is equally cruel. The presence of Shami made the bowling attack look complete. Umesh Yadav, who eventually finished as India’s leading wicket-taker in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, possesses raw pace but loses his radar far too often. There is the youthfulness in the attack with the likes of Rishi Dhawan and Barinder Sran, but they lack the experience. Ishant Sharma is an unpredictable element at best; mostly average, but sometimes unstoppable. Shami would have brought that element of stability into the attack had he been fit. READ: Inexperience in Australia’s pace arsenal gives Virat Kohli an opportunity to improve his dismal record.

Shami’s style is a blend of unwavering accuracy, handy pace, subtle movement both of the pitch and in the air, and generous bounce. His numbers in ODIs are telling of his skill. In a career spanning 47 games till date, he boasts 87 wickets at an average of 24.89 and an astonishing strike-rate of 26.9. To put things to perspective, that is the second best strike-rate in the history of ODI cricket (with a minimum cut off of 80 career wickets), second only to Australia’s Mitchell Starc (who is co-incidentally also out of the Aussie squad with injury).

Moreover, if his World Cup performance was any measure to go by, he showed that he had mastered the Australian conditions. In fact, his average of 23.30 in Australia is better than his career average. These numbers suffice to say that Shami’s presence will be sorely missed on this tour.

One may argue that the spin-department has enough ability to offset Shami’s loss. But, Australia know their concept of home advantage. They will not prepare tracks that give too much to the spinners. There will be no exception to that rule in this series either, given that Australia are not playing a single specialist spinner in the ODI line-up!

India will need Yadav, Bhuvneshwar and Ishant to be on top of their game if they are to cause significant troubles to the Aussie batsmen.  The spinners will have to produce variations and extract as much turn from the pitches as the curators are kind enough to provide. As of now, things look bleak for the Indian bowling department in absence of Shami.

(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RDcric on Twitter)