"Any team is bound to miss a bowler like Shami": Mohit Sharma after GT's loss to CSK

Mohit Sharma (Pic: BCCI)

Gujarat Titans pacer Mohit Sharma feels that it is hard to replace any bowler having Mohammed Shami's calibre after the side faced defeat against the defending champions Chennai Super Kings.

India's star speedster Mohammed Shami will not feature in IPL 2024 as he is still not fully recovered from his ankle surgery. He is expected to make his appearance during the home test series against Bangladesh. Shami will also likely miss the T20 World Cup 2024 which will be jointly hosted by the West Indies and the USA in June.

"Any team is bound to miss a bowler like Shami, and you can't replace him with anyone. But injuries are uncontrollable, and you must see how to move ahead with it," said Sharma, who played for CSK between 2013 and 2015 and has been with the Titans since 2022, during the post-match press conference.

Also Read: IN PHOTOS | IPL 2024, MI vs SRH: Here's all you need to know

"As for GT, it's the first year for Spencer (Johnson) and Azmatullah (Omarzai). They haven't played much cricket yet. Therefore, we must be patient with them and not become too result-oriented.

"We must not bother about the runs leaked or the result of the contest, but how successful we are with our plans and how we are working on it backstage. These things would come in handy in the second half (of the event)," opined Sharma.

With youngsters like Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube leading the batting charge, Chennai put on a huge taret of 207 against Gujarat Titans. No mercy was shown on GT bowlers as Umesh Yadav conceded 27 runs in just two overs followed by ace spinner Rashid Khan for 49 in four overs. Khan also bagged two wickets.

Mohit Sharma added that CSK milking runs in powerplay also contributed to the big loss. "Not much of a difference (in CSK's strategy). It used to be the same when I used to play for CSK, and we usually tried to get the maximum out of the powerplay overs," he said.

"We knew it was going to be a similar scenario, especially with Rachin (Ravindra's) batting of late. However, we failed to execute our plans properly and also failed to judge the width and length during our bowling.

Also Read: "Hats off to him, and he is playing with confidence now": Michael Hussey on Dube

"We failed in executing our plans properly. We began to bowl the slower ones too early and too wide off the off stump, leading to them scoring freely. It happens that the plans always don't get executed properly every time.

"But it's a big tournament, and we have ample time to go back to the drawing board, rectify our mistakes and start afresh. "We had a target of 200 as the par score on this wicket, and CSK played just the way we had thought. They were on course for 225-230 before settling for 206, but since we failed to implement our plans, we believed we gave away 15-20 runs extra."

Sharma also defended the visitors' decision to bowl first, stating that dew is always a factor in night games, though, interestingly, there was hardly any dew on Tuesday night.

"Don't think the pitch has a role to play. Generally, if we win the toss and decide to bowl, it's because we know that the dew might play a factor later during the game.

"But, there was no dew (Tuesday). As usual, we decided to bowl and restrict them to a par total, while dew would have been an added positive for us.

"Had the wicket been drier, CSK would have moved in with two spinners. But, had the (GT) pacers bowled in the right areas, it would have been tough for them to hit," he considered.

Despite the 63-run loss, Mohit refused to blame the batters for the poor show. CSK bowlers implemented their plan to perfection to restrict GT to 143/8 with Sai Sudharsan (37) being GT's top scorer.

"I won't say we failed to score runs, but credit to the CSK bowlers for bowling brilliantly. Deepak (Chahar) started well, and at the end of the day, it all boils down to the number of variations you possess and when and how to use them.

"Don't think it was a pressure scenario for us. The wicket was good, and 200 was a gettable total here. "But the wickets that we lost initially, leading to lack of partnerships, followed by CSK bowlers bowling the right length, led to our inability to up the run rate, and we began lagging in every over," he signed off.

(With PTI Inputs)