India pacers have forced the opposition to think about the wickets they want to offer: Shami

As India embark on a gruelling tour of England, pacer Mohammed Shami reckons the opposition now think what sort of wickets they want to offer us given India's strength in the fast bowling department. Other than Shami, India have the option of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur to pick from.

"The best thing about our bowling unit is that we have 4-5 pacers who can constantly bowl at over 140-145 clicks. You can find 1-2, but to find 4-5 is tough, and we have that. We force the opposition to think about what wickets they want to offer us. I don't think we've had bowlers who could bowl at this pace earlier, we never had 4-5 of them coming in units." Shami told India News.

"Earlier, teams used to plan easily against us but today they are forced to think otherwise," he added.

If you dig a little deeper, India also have the likes of Prasidh Krishna and Arzan Nagwasawalla as reserves for the tour and the pacer says that the seniors have taken it upon themselves to groom such young bowlers for the future.

"As seniors, our duty is to tell the youngsters to ask us things freely. Overall, the atmosphere and camaraderie between the juniors and seniors is amazing. The thing is, all of us will have to leave the game someday but it is important to think about what we are leaving behind, for the team and the youngsters. It's important to make your country, captain and the board proud," Shami, who has picked up 180 wickets in 50 Tests for India said.

India will leave for England on June 2 after completing their quarantine in India. They will first play the World Test Championship (WTC) final, starting June 18 against New Zealand in Southampton. The action will then shift to the five-match Test series against England, which will begin on August 4.