Indian cricket skipper Virat Kohli praises Mohammed Shami's fitness and weight loss
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Shami has a wicket-taking ability and he's hungry for wickets. Heading into the WC, it's a great sign for team India, said Virat Kohli.
Indian pacer Mohammed Shami earned praises for his performance in the first One-Day International match against Australia at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
In the match, the Virat Kohli-led team defeated Australia by six wickets to take a 1-0 lead in five-match series.
Pace spearhead Mohammed Shami made it count with figures of 2-44 to restrict Australia to 236 for seven.
He dismissed Stoinis (37, 53 balls) and Khawaja (50, 76 balls), who added 87 runs for the second wicket.
After winning the match, Kohli spoke highly of Shami. He said, "He [Shami] has wicket-taking ability and he's hungry for wickets. Heading into the WC, it's a great sign for team India."
"If he can stay hungry like this and look for wickets and he has the ability to back it up with Bumrah and Kuldeep, it's gonna be great to stand in the field and watch," Kohli added.
Kohli gave special mention to Shami's fitness. "The way Shami has come back into the white-ball set-up after his Test performances, have never seen him so lean before. He has lost 5-6 kgs. He's running in and bowling so well," Shami said.
He has lost 5-6 kgs. He's running in and bowling so well."
"The lines and length he's bowling; got Maxi on 40-odd out with a beautiful ball," added Kohli.