Though Bangladesh suffered a humiliating loss to India in the first Test match of the two-match series, fast bowler Abu Jayed gave the visitors some hope by scalping some of the early wickets and kept the visitors in contention untill Mayank Agarwal blew away everything with a mighty 243-run innings in Indore.
Apart from Agarwal, it was Mohammed Shami’s attack that sent shivers down the spine of Bangladeshi batsmen as the 29-year-old returned figures of 3 for 27 and 4 for 31 in the first and second innings, respectively.
Such impressive was Shami’s spell that even Jayed couldn’t restrict himself from seeking advice of the veteran pacer ahead of the day-night Test in Kolkata.
“I spoke with (Mohammad) Shami bhai yesterday (Saturday). There are some similarities between him and me since we both use the seam. I have seen him bowl a lot of times and I paid extra attention to how he was bowling. I have compared his height to mine to find out if he is taller than me or of equal height. Then I figured maybe I could bowl like him,” Jayed was quoted as saying by the ICC.
Notably, Jayed ended with figures of 4 for 108 during India’s innings of 493 for 6 in the first Test, which Bangladesh lost by an innings and 130 runs. Wickets of the 26-year-old were Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.