Mohammad Shami will be the X-factor for India in South Africa: Manoj Prabhakar

New Delhi, Jan 5: He scored a half-century as an opening batsman in Cape Town against South Africa 25 years ago. He even had an impressive show with the ball in Johannesburg Test in the same series.

Manoj Prabhakar, the former Indian international, is now the bowling coach of Delhi in Ranji Trophy.

Speaking from New Delhi over the phone as Virat Kohli-led Indian team are taking on South Africa in Cape Town today, Prabhakar tried to predict by saying, "With Kookaburra ball, the first twenty overs and Mohammed Shami will be the deciding factor for India in the series."

The 54-year-old swing bowler explained, "Kookaburra ball is used in South Africa and it generates a huge amount of swing in the first 20 overs. So any team which will be able to bowl perfectly maintaining the swing or if batting manages to score without losing any wicket in first twenty overs will win the match."

Prabhakar, while speaking on India's bowling line-up, seemed optimistic and added, "Indian team has a strong bowling line-up. Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav, all are quality bowlers and especially Bhuvneshwar for he can swing the ball in both ways.

"But I feel Shami is going to be the X-factor. The reason for that is he can reverse swing perfectly and consistently. At the end of first twenty overs, you need to have a bowler who can penetrate into the batsmen's confidence in the latter part of the game. And Shami with his excellent ability to deliver reverse swing might be dangerous. I feel he can be the man to crack the South African middle-order even if they are settled."

Ishant Sharma was his direct student in Dehli during the recently concluded Ranji Trophy. He captured 20 wickets in four matches also in Ranji Trophy. How much success might he get on South African soil?

Prabhakar clarified, "Ishant has developed a sharp swing. Still, he was not being able to crack opponent batsmen as he was delivering from wide of the bowling crease. I made the correction and advised him to deliver from the close of the wickets. He took the suggestion and got success. I am hopeful he will succeed in South Africa."