As an England opener, Nick Knight faced some of the greatest pace bowlers of all time such as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Glenn McGrath, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Allan Donald. He is glad that he didn’t have to face Mohammed Shami.
“The seam position that leaves Shami’s hand is as good as anyone’s ever, in the modern game,” said Knight, who played 17 Tests and 100 ODIs, in an interview to Sportstar.
“He has great control, and when there’s a little bit of movement off the surface, I can’t think of too many I would rather least face as a former opening batsman. He would be right up there with my top bowlers.”
Shami has been breathing fire in IPL 2023. He has been one of the key contributors in Gujarat Titans’ excellent show.
Jasprit Bumrah is other Indian pacer that has impressed Knight as much. “His injury is a massive blow to the Indian team,” he said.
“From my generation to how things are now with Indian cricket, the pace bowling has been one of the big, big changes. The pace bowlers, their numbers and the reserves of pace bowling... It has made a massive difference to India.”
Knight, who scored 3637 runs from 100 ODIs at an average of 40.41, is looking forward to how the Indian pacers and their Australian counterparts would square off in the final of the World Test Championship final at The Oval next month.
“It’s going to be an amazing game,” he said. “It would be a great atmosphere at The Oval, with two fantastic sides. It would be a great spectacle.”
He believes India and Australia are well matched. “I don’t think it’s easy for any side just to arrive in England and play one Test match,” he said. “I think that is particularly challenging because the conditions in England can be quite unique at times, although generally the surface at the Oval is a very good one.”
He likes the concept of the world championship for Test cricket. “Anything to try and promote Test match cricket is good and gets my vote,” he said. “We need to protect Test cricket.”
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