“Kohli, Rohit Hate Playing Him”: Dinesh Karthik Picks ‘Toughest Bowler’ He Has Faced In Nets

The Indian cricket team has some exceptional pacers in the current unit. While the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are the senior most in the team at present, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik are also rising the ranks rapidly. When Dinesh Karthik was asked about the ‘toughest’ player he has faced in the nets, Shami emerged as the clear winner. Not just that, Kathik also called the act of facing Shami in the nets as a ‘torture’.

In the ‘Rise of New India‘ show on Cricbuzz, Karthik also revealed that it wasn’t just him who didn’t want to face Shami in the nets, but also the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

“If I have to use one word for Shami it will be ‘Torture Shami’. Because in my whole career, he is the toughest bowler I have faced in the nets, he has got me out a couple of times as well in the match. But he has been nasty to play in the nets. I thought I was the only one so then I asked Kohli, Rohit, and they are all legends of the game and they all said they hate playing Shami,” he said.

Delving into the ‘strengths’ of Shami, Karthik revealed that the veteran pacer always bowls with full vigor in the nets, using all his strength.

“What makes him so special is – all of his strength come into play in net session, his upright seam position, his natural length, that nasty length of 6-8 metre mark, where the two major mode of dismissals are caught behind or caught at slip. And you can see why he has been unlucky over a period of time as well because that length says that he gets the batsman beaten numerous times but never gets that wicket. He has travelled overseas in series where he constantly ended up being the bad bowler because he is the bowler got gets most deliveries beaten, but never the amount of wickets to show for,” the wicket-keeper batter explained.