World Cup 2015: Lethal pace trio lights up India's campaign

PERTH: Rarely have we seen such a fiery opening spell from an Indian pacer as we saw from Mohammed Shami at the WACA on Friday night. With the likes of Shami - bowling in tandem with Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma - regularly clocking speeds of 140+kph, pace is now a potent weapon for this Indian team.
Full Coverage: ICC World Cup 2015
The West Indies openers - Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith - were all at sea and tried unsuccessfully to hit their way out, but managed only to gift away their wickets to Shami.
From there, the Indian bowlers held sway right though the match.
"It was such a great feeling to bowl on a pitch that had so much bounce and pace. It is not often that the pace bowlers encounter such a strip, that too in ODIs. With so much encouragement from the track, I also put in all my effort to trouble batsmen of the calibre of Gayle and Smith," said a delighted Shami.
"For a fast bowler, it is very important to get such type of wickets and it gives you great joy to bowl on them. We did our homework and jotted down plans for this game. It is satisfying that we could execute it well," he said.

"Our plan against the top order batsmen was to keep things tight and not give any easy deliveries to hit," explained Shami while speaking to the BCCI's official website.
"Both Smith and Gayle are free-flowing batsmen and love to play their strokes. We wanted to keep them in check. It was important to put them under pressure and if possible to take them out of the equation early . I am glad we were able to implement our plan."
For Shami, it was important to make optimum use of the conditions.
"The moment I had the ball in my hand and I got a little bit of swing, my eyes lit up. With swing on offer, I was confident that I could make it tough for the batsmen. The good thing about this bowling unit is that we work as a team. Each pacer has a role in the team and a specific plan. We are bowling in tandem and not looking at bowling as individuals. It is important for us to strike collectively. If you are thinking about yourself then it is not going to help the team's cause."
He said that the pace trio, along with swing bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Stuart Binny, and the spin duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are determined to continue the way they have performed as a unit.
"The conditions will be different in New Zealand but we are determined to maintain our winning streak," he said.
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