‘Shami was having mutton rice and Shastri said…’ – Former India coach reveals how Ravi Shastri once lost his calm with India bowler

The 2018 Test series between India and South Africa was regarded as the start of Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri’s efforts to reverse the team’s reputation for being a bad visiting team in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) countries. The fact that India entered the series with three dangerous fast bowlers – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah, who made his Test debut in the series—made the series crucial in many ways.

The three-match series was fiercely contested, but South Africa prevailed by a score of 2-0. The middle order of South Africa, which included players like AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock, and captain Faf du Plessis, helped the side to reach a respectable total while the Indians regularly managed to cut through their top order, caused the Indians to stumble in the face of bowlers like Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, and Dale Steyn, who only participated in the first innings of the first Test.

But in the third Test, India took control and won by 63 runs in Johannesburg on a difficult pitch. Bhuvneshwar was named player of the match for his all-around efforts, but Shami, who had been hammered all over the field in the first innings, was responsible for India’s victory over South Africa with five wickets in the second innings.

Shami looked disinterested as he came back in: R Sridhar

“We lost Cape Town. We couldn’t chase down 208 which was ridiculous. Then we lost Centurion, another match we should have won, and where we could have been 2-0 up or at worse 1-1. We had already surrendered the series when we went to Johannesburg,” R Sridhar said in his book ‘Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team’.

Sridhar remembered that Shami had appeared “disinterested” on the fourth day when he had returned for tea. South Africa, which was attempting to chase down a target of 241, was at 136/3 after a stand of 119 runs between Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla had just been broken and after Bumrah had dismissed the dangerous de Villiers for a low score.

“Shami looked disinterested as he came back in, and as he did for lunch when he had piled up his plate with rice and mutton curry. During the first interval, Ravi had lost his shirt after one glance at Shami’s plate. “Bloody hell, will you satiate your hunger here itself or will you save some of it for wickets too?” the former India coach asserted.