Mohammed Shami’s red-hot form in the World Cup stunned the world. But the speedster is 33 and India will be keen to groom someone to be as effective as him for the future. Who could it be? Ravichandran Ashwin has found the answer.

Ashwin had initially thought that Mohammed Siraj would be the one to step into Shami’s boots. But the star off-spinner has had a change of opinion and now thinks that it is Mukesh Kumar who has the qualities to become “junior Shami”.

Ashwin, who recently reviewed the World Cup final on his YouTube channel, has shared his views about Mukesh, who plays for Bengal in the domestic circuit.

Mukesh, who is currently part of the Indian team that is playing a five-match series against Australia, had impressed with his skills when he made his debut in the West Indies earlier this year.

“I initially thought Mohammad Siraj would become the junior Shami, but I now feel it could be Mukesh Kumar. Shami is called ‘Lala’ and as a tribute to the actor Mohanlal who is called Lalettan, I call Shami Lalettan. Mukesh has a similar build, similar height, and outstanding wrist position — he has that great whip of the wrist and terrific back-spin on the ball. He has a very nice straight and nice alignment,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

Ashwin also narrated a story about how Mukesh got Pakistan pace great Waqar Younis’ approval. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, when he was the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, had arranged for a talent hunt camp which had Younis as one of the experts. Mukesh attended that camp.

“Imagine, you are going to bowl in front of Waqar Younis, and you were at the toilet. They had called out his name but he wasn’t there! He returned, waited for 30 minutes and told them that his name wasn’t called out,” Ashwin said.

“It was then that Waqar Younis, who was about to leave, told him to bowl a couple of balls. Those two deliveries changed his life and he is now bowling for India,” he added.