Rohit Sharma explains reason behind giving Shami the final over | IND vs AUS

India kept their comeback seamer in the shed for 19 overs of Australia's run-chase in the T20 World Cup warm-up game. 
 
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Making his return to the T20I side, Mohammad Shami bowled a match-winning final over in the practice match against Australia. 

Rohit Sharma explained why India didn't employ Mohammad Shami until the 20th of their run-defence in the T20 World Cup warm-up fixture against Australia in Brisbane on Monday (October 17). 

The comeback seamer didn't come out to field and sat on the sidelines till asked by the Indian skipper to bowl the pivotal final over of the innings with the hosts needing 11 off the last 6 balls. 

The pacer made a match-winning feast of it, giving away just four runs while taking three wickets off his bowling to keep Australia down to 180 all out in response to India's 186/7 compiled batting first. 

But why didn't Shami bowl before during the innings when he needed overs under his belt, making his comeback to the T20I side after nearly a year away from the playing XI as replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah? Rohit Sharma tried offering a rationale. 

'This was always the plan' - Rohit Sharma 

Speaking to host broadcasters Star Sports, Rohit Sharma explained that the idea to keep Shami in the hut until the death-overs phase was always part of the plan for India. Partly not to rush him in after recovering from a positive Covid-19 test and partly to re-test his mettle in the end-overs stage, Rohit said the team didn't want to unleash their veteran quick earlier in the game. 

"This was always the plan," Rohit said. "Honestly, he is coming back after a long time. So we just wanted to give him an over. This was always the plan from the beginning."

"He comes and bowls at the death. We know how lethal he can be with the new ball. We just wanted to give him a little bit of a challenge, coming and bowling that death over and we saw what it was," he added. 

Watch: Stunning Run-out, cracking catch - Virat Kohli turns warm-up game around with brilliance in the field

Shami's excellent final over, however, couldn't exactly hid India's bowling issues as they nearly conceded a target of 187 on a flat Gabba pitch against the Aussies. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/20) and Ravichandran Ashwin (0/28) bowled reasonably well but the rest of the cast proved expensive. 

Rohit said there is definitely room for improvement with the ball as his bowlers failed to repeatedly hit the right areas on a high-bounce deck, something they will look to iron out come the next official warm-up game on Wednesday (October 19) at the same venue against New Zealand.