If you bowl out home team for 183 on day one, you are in good position: Shami

PTI, Aug 5, 2021, 8:00 AM IST

India pacer Mohammed Shami, who wreaked havoc with his fiery spell on day one of the first Test against England here, said that his team was in a ”good position” after bowling out the hosts for 183. England skipper Joe Root’s decision to bat first backfired badly as India pacers led by Jasprit Bumrah (4/46) put up an impressive show.

”Obviously because 183… as per me we should make a good score and take the lead. We are in a good position, because any team you bowl out for 183 at its home is a good performance,” Shami said at the post-day press conference, when asked whether the visitors had an upper hand.

”Now the thing is that we need to focus on the first hour and according to me the ball has not done much, the way we bowled in the day, we bowled in the right length and accordingly you have got wickets. ”I think, we need to focus and (it) doesn’t matter whether it is 183 or 283, you need to focus a bit and need to add runs,” the right-arm speedster added. He stressed that the batsmen will need to focus in the first hour.

“Our first innings, the bowling part is over. Our batting part is left. I will say only one thing, you need to play the first hour with caution, because you should not lose your focus, be in control, so the first thing is to achieve this score and then think about the lead. ”The main focus will be to score 183 and after that whatever comes,” the Bengal speedster added.