Shami Ahmed, Team India's lucky mascot?

After his impressive debut against Pakistan, the young Shami Ahmed played the second ODI against England and it is mere coincidence that the team has registered a win in both the matches.MS Dhoni's men having suffered a series loss against Pakistan losing the first two matches of the ODI series, had only one match to experiment. Dhoni picked Shami Ahmed instead of Ashok Dinda and it worked as young Bengal pacer impressed everyone with a fabulous spell, as he bowled 4 maiden overs, the most by any Indian bowler on ODI debut.

If that was a record, Shami conceded only 23 runs off 9 overs and picked Saeed Ajmal's wicket to register his first ODI victim during his debut against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla on Jan 6, 2013.

While India's main worry has been to contain the opposition during the death overs, Shami Ahmed proved that he is capable of restricting the run flow as he bowled a maiden over during the death overs which ensured that India clinched the third and final ODI against Pakistan by 10 runs.

It was disappointing to see Shami Ahmed being dropped for the first ODI against England on Jan 11 at Rajkot. But, his inclusion in the second ODI against England was refreshing as the young duo Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed bowled in tandem and guided India to yet another win.

Though Shami Ahmed wasn't very successful against England, as he picked up yet another wicket in the second ODI, but dismissed in-form Ian Bell off his second delivery to give India the first breakthrough.

Though it was Ravindra Jadeja's all-round show that guided India to a victory as he helped India post a total of 285/6, Shami Ahmed's inclusion also served the team well as they won the second ODI to level the series 1-1 with three games to play.

Is this a mere coincidence or is he the lucky mascot for the struggling Men in Blue? Probably a couple of matches in the series could help us find the answer for the above question.