5 things the 90s Indian cricket enthusiast will love about the present team

#3 Two genuine quicks bowling in tandem

Shami can bowl quick and can reverse swing the ball well

On the fifth day of the second Test, when everyone was expecting Ashwin and the other spinners to pick all the wickets, it was Shami who picked up the big fish, Joe Root, with a ball that curled in beautifully with pace, trapping the batsman LBW.

In the first innings, Shami broke Alastair Cook’s off-stump - a rare sight for an Indian fast bowler. Umesh Yadav got the crucial wicket of Jonny Bairstow in the first innings with a yorker that flattened the batsman’s stumps; both Yadav and Shami cross 140kph with ease.

Shami swings the ball at pace while Yadav managed to touch 148kph a few times in this series. Average speeds like these are unheard of in Indian cricket. India has never had two fast bowlers capable of bowling at 90 mph consistently, thereby picking wickets with the old and the new ball even on sub-continental pitches, even on a fifth day track. That is a great fillip indeed.