Shami on hat-trick: Mahi bhai said, 'Bowl a yorker'
Southampton: Mohammed Shami had no second thoughts about bowling a yorker for a hat-trick delivery after Mahendra Singh Dhoni advised the same during India's thrilling World Cup encounter against Afghanistan here.
Shami is the second Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in World Cup after Chetan Sharma's feat against New Zealand in the 1987 edition. This is the 10th hat-trick in history of 50-over World Cup.
"The plan was simple. To bowl a yorker and even Mahi bhai suggested that. He said, 'Don't change anything now as you have a great chance of getting a hat-trick. It's a rare opportunity and you need to do the same thing. So I did what exactly I was told," Shami told reporters after returning with figures of 4 for 40.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar's left-hamstring stiffness brought Shami into the picture and the Bengal pacer accepts that it was a stroke of luck that he was in the playing XI.
"Getting a chance in the playing XI is a bit of luck. I was ready that whenever I get a chance, I will have to utilise it. As far as hat-trick is concerned, it is a rarity at least in the World Cup. I am happy," he said.
Shami said in the final over, there was no time to think and the aim was to execute the plan.
"There was no time to think. You have to back your own skills as you don't have much option otherwise. If you try more variations, chances of going for runs is more. My thought was to execute my plan rather than trying to read batsman's mind," he said.
The Indian bowlers had realised that short ball was a weapon that could be used effectively and both pacers -- Shami and Jasprit Bumrah -- did just that against Afghan batsmen.
"We didn't bowl fuller length deliveries as it was coming onto the bat well. We knew they would be circumspect against short balls. Our gameplan was simple, bowl bouncers from varying lengths," he added.
All-rounder Mohammed Nabi had threatened to take the game away with his half-century and Shami said it was important that they don't let the shoulders drop.
"There was a point when Nabi's flow was irritating but it's better if you don't show your concern or irritation which the batsman would have gauged," he said.
"We shouldn't show our weakness. From the exterior, we should always show aggression. We knew that if Nabi was out, then match belongs us. He was the only batsman who could have built their innings."
For someone, who loved his biryani, Shami's new mantra has been fitness which helped him bowl some great spells for India in Test matches last year.
"This is a long journey, may be, around two years. Post injury, I had put on weight and I could feel that. After one spell, I would feel tired and there would be tightness. I had a surgery too. At that point in time, I could sense that if I had to continue playing cricket, I better do something extra," Shami recalled.
Team India trainer Shankar Basu in a recent interview to PTI spoke about how fitness has become Shami's lifestyle. Even the player at times fails to believe this change.
"People laugh that I follow a diet. Actually, I don't follow any strict diet but if doctor advises on certain dietary restrictions, I try maintaining that. It is for my benefit that I don't eat sweets or wheat products (bread). It helps me only," he said.
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Fascism will not be allowed to enter through the back door of vote rigging: CM Siddaramaiah
New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday asserted that fascism would not be allowed to enter India “through the back door of vote rigging” and called upon citizens to collectively defend the country’s democratic foundations.
Speaking after participating in an anti–vote rigging protest organised in New Delhi, Siddaramaiah said the gathering was not merely a political demonstration but a stand to protect Indian democracy. “We have come to the heart of our republic not as Congress workers or voters, but as protectors of Indian democracy,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of the right to vote, Siddaramaiah said it was the most sacred right guaranteed by the Constitution and the very foundation of democracy.
“Through voting, a farmer shapes the future of his children, a worker safeguards his dignity, a youth realises dreams, and a nation expresses its collective will,” he said.
He accused the BJP-led Union government of attempting to undermine this right through what he termed systematic vote rigging, including the alleged misuse of the special revision of electoral rolls. “This power is being stolen repeatedly,” he alleged.
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Warning against authoritarian tendencies, Siddaramaiah said history had shown that dictatorship does not begin with violence but with the misuse of institutions and manipulation of democratic systems.
“Across the world, authoritarian regimes pretend to protect democracy while quietly subverting it. This is what the BJP is doing today,” he charged.
He alleged that the ruling party was controlling institutions, intimidating electoral machinery, distorting voter lists, suppressing voter turnout in opposition strongholds, and misusing money and power. “This is not mere maladministration. Vote rigging is an attack on the very idea of India,” he said.
Siddaramaiah further claimed that governments formed through “stolen votes” could not be considered democratic.
“Such regimes survive through fear, fraud and distortion of the people’s mandate,” he said, adding that vote rigging posed the biggest threat to the republic since Independence.
Praising Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah said he had shown exceptional courage in exposing alleged irregularities in voter lists, booth-level manipulation and “systematic, organised vote rigging” across several states, including Karnataka, Haryana and Bihar.
Referring to Karnataka, Siddaramaiah cited Mahadevpura and Aland constituencies as examples highlighted by Gandhi. In Mahadevpura, he said, thousands of allegedly fake and fraudulent voter entries and discrepancies in electoral rolls pointed to a narrow BJP victory. In Aland, he said, attempts were made to remove the names of legitimate voters ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
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He noted that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had recently filed a chargesheet accusing seven persons, including a former BJP MLA and his son, of attempting to delete the names of around 6,000 voters in Aland.
“This is a significant legal step in the fight against vote rigging,” he said.
Siddaramaiah concluded by stating that the fight against vote rigging was rooted in constitutional morality, Ambedkarite thought and the core principle of democracy. “Sovereignty belongs to the people, not to any party, regime or those who seek to steal elections,” he said.
