“The hard work is paying off”: Mohammed Shami thanks fans for support after his last-Over heroics vs Australia during T20 World Cup warm-up match

Mohammed Shami thanks fans post his critical last Over contribution during India’s first warm-up match of the World Cup versus Australia.

With 11 runs required off the last Over during team India’s first warm-up match ahead of the ongoing T20 World Cup, at The Gabba in Brisbane, skipper Rohit Sharma handed the ball to pacer Mohammed Shami, for the first time in the contest, and the latter did not disappoint either.

Post conceding a couple of braces in the first two deliveries, the 32-year-old picked three wickets off the next four deliveries (and a run-out as well) to end the Australian innings at 180, en route the target of 187 runs.

While the first wicket was the result of a one-handed stunner by Virat Kohli at the long-on fence, the wickets off the penultimate and the ultimate deliveries came off well executed Yorkers, dismantling the stumps in the process.

While it was all as per a plan, as later disclosed by Rohit Sharma, the latter must have been pretty pleased by Shami’s confident burst in the end, especially in light of the team’s consistent death bowling woes, especially since the Asia Cup, and also the fact that the experienced pacer has not played any T20I in Indian colours since the T20 World Cup last year in UAE.

Mohammed Shami thanks fans

After almost 12 hours post the completion of the warm-up match yesterday, Shami took to his social media handle, to thank his fans for all the love and support, while also adding that all his hard work is paying off.

Thank you everyone for your love and support. The hard work is paying off. Just feels great to be back on the field, playing for #TeamIndia. Onwards and upwards.#mdshami11 pic.twitter.com/xmLNOKDSZ7

— Mohammad Shami (@MdShami11) October 17, 2022

For those unaware, Shami was the last-minute inclusion into the Indian World Cup team squad, after Indian spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out due to back injury.

He was also included into the squad for the series against South Africa, but suffered from COVID-19 in the eleventh hour to unfortunately miss out.

With Deepak Chahar also missing out due to injury, there was a supposed toss up between him and Mohammad Siraj for the pacer spot in the squad.

However, as Rohit had mentioned post the South Africa T20Is that someone experienced would be part of the squad, it was Shami who was the ultimate pick.