Former Indian
opener Gautam Gambhir has heaped praise on Mohammed Shami for being “relentless
and very threatening” and said the 31-year-old is “one of the best bowlers
going around in red-ball cricket”.

The Indian pace
attack has been key to the side’s overseas success in recent years and has once
again proved decisive in bringing India close to its maiden Test series win
in South Africa.

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The Indian seamers picked up 18 of the 20 wickets in the first Test at Centurion, where Shami took a first
innings fifer to help India establish a 130-run lead and eventually take a 1-0
lead in the series. Shardul Thakur (7/61) then registered the best figures by an Indian seamer
in the second Test at The Wanderers as the pace attack picked up 12 out of 13
wickets but the hosts went on to level the series.

In the ongoing
third Test, Jasprit Bumrah picked up the seventh five-wicket-haul of his career
as India bundled out the Proteas with a 13-run first innings lead.
While Bumrah’s spell was the most decisive in nullifying the Proteas batting,
Shami also played an important part, breaking a promising partnership and
delivering two quick blows in one over.

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Shami first
dismissed Temba Bavuma, who was looking well settled at 28 and had added 47 runs
to the board along with top-scorer Keegan Petersen (72), and then got rid of
Kyle Verreynne for a duck.

“More than
the fear, he was threatening throughout the day, in this innings, and probably
throughout the series. The kind of lengths which he bowled, kept testing the
batter. Ask any top batsman. No one would want to face him. He bowls so close
to the stumps that he is always in or around off-stump. And from there on, he
gets the movement and from there on he gets the edges,” Gambhir said on the
Byju’s Cricket Live Show on Star Sports.

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“I think
Mohammed Shami or Jasprit Bumrah will keep challenging any batter. For me,
Mohammed Shami is relentless and he’s very threatening. He is probably one of
the best bowlers going around in red-ball cricket,” he added.