After Dhoni and Siddharth Kaul, Mohammed Shami hosts Team India members at his home

Indian cricketers completed a hat-trick of invitations during the ongoing ODI series against Australia in Delhi ahead of the deciding game of the series on Wednesday. After attending a party hosted by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Ranchi and one by Siddharth Kaul in Punjab, the Men in Blue paid a visit to pacer Mohammed Shami who hosted them at his residence in Delhi on Thursday.

On the field, though, India had two forgettable outings in Ranchi and Mohali as they lost by 32 runs and 4 wickets, respectively, to the Australian side who squared the five-match series 2-2 after trailing 0-2. Team India will be under pressure to win the series at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in the capital, particularly after the loss they faced in the fourth ODI despite scoring over 350.

Indian batsmen and bowlers produced inconsistent performances in the last two games while wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant who has replaced Dhoni for the last two matches failed miserably behind the stump, earning a massive backlash. India, who won a Test and ODI series in Australia recently, will be keen to deny the Kangaroos an opportunity to return the favour in this series. Australia had last won a bilateral ODI series in India in October-November 2009.

Mohammed Shami thanks teammates for the visit

The Indian cricketers though looked in light spirits at the party hosted by Shami who did not play in Mohali as the team management wanted to give him a rest and reduce some workload on him. The 28-year-old pacer later shared a picture with his teammates on Twitter saying: “Thanks for all team India member’s for visiting my home.”

Shami, who has faced problem in his married life in recent times, has never allowed it to affect his game and has been bowling impressively for some time now. He finished as India’s highest wicket-taker in the recent ODI series against New Zealand, picking nine wickets from four games, to pick up the man of the series award. In the current series, Shami picked three wickets in the first three games. He has also been rested for the final game in Delhi which will also be India’s last international game before the World Cup.

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