Shamik Chakrabarty in Dubai
On Thursday, Mohammed Shami reached the milestone of 200 ODI wickets. It was his 104th match in this format and in terms of number of balls, it was the fewest for any bowler.
At the end, India’s six-wicket win over Bangladesh in their Champions Trophy opener in Dubai was comprehensive. Shubman Gill revelled in his sublimity, but he has been batting like a prince in 50-over cricket of late. From India’s point of view, Shami returning figures of 5/53 was even more heartening.
In Jasprit Bumrah’s absence, Shami is the leader of the pace attack. But ever since his return to the international fold after an elongated injury-forced hiatus, the veteran fast bowler was searching for the right rhythm. Against Bangladesh, he was almost there.
Nearly four years ago, Shami was at the receiving end of a Pakistani batting onslaught at the 2021 T20 World Cup. No Indian bowler got a wicket in that game, but Shami was deplorably called out on social media over his religion. His integrity was questioned.
Virat Kohli, the then India captain, had to publicly come out in his teammate’s support. Kohli acted like a leader, but social media turning into a social disgrace gave a poor account of a vast section of Indian cricket’s fanbase. The game against Bangladesh showed cricket can be a great leveller.
“Social media is such these days that it can lead to some unwanted things in your mind,” said Shami at the post-match press conference. “I don’t like to think about such things. What happened has happened. People will remind you about the poor performances and it will pinch you too. But I feel as a cricketer and sportsman, one shouldn’t look back too much and just stay in the present, and plan for the future. Just think about the next plan.”
He spoke about how tough it was to be on the sidelines and going through the process of improving and increasing the load by “10-20 per cent” every day. “Playing domestic cricket gave me a lot of confidence,” he said.
It was also painful to watch the Test series in Australia on telly. “It was really tough,” said Shami. “Like I said, repeating those things in those 14 months, going through that pain… And you feel you are on the edge, you always miss your bowling unit and the ones you are usually with. You always think ‘I wish I could contribute as well’. You always miss that when you are injured then you can’t do anything anyway apart from watching games, ball by ball.”
For India, it would be imperative that Shami stays fit, going ahead.
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