Mohammed Shami[a] (born 3 September 1990) is an Indian international cricketer who serves as a right-arm fast or fast medium bowler, representing India in all formats. He has played for Bengal in domestic cricket[3] and for four teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL). One of the most consistent wicket takers in contemporary world cricket, Shami bowls the ball off the seam and uses swing, including reverse swing, to move the ball both directions. He has been reputed to have an edge in the death (slog) overs of a limited-overs innings and, in all formats, has been described as being at times "unplayable". Shami finished as India's leading wicket taker in the ICC World Cup 2023, besides being the fastest bowler to take 50 wickets in the 48 years history of Cricket World Cup spanning 13 editions. He is recipient of 2023 Arjuna Award for Cricket.
Early life and career
Shami grew up in the village of Sahaspur in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, one of five children.[4][5] His father, Tauseef Ali[b] was a farmer who had been a fast bowler in his youth.[5][6] When Shami was 15 he was taken to Badruddin Siddique, a cricket coach in Moradabad, a town 22 kilometres (14 mi) from his home.[4][6]
"When I first saw him [Shami] bowling at the nets as a 15-year-old kid, I knew this boy is not ordinary. So I decided to train him. For one year I prepared him for the UP trials, as we don't have club cricket over here. He was very co-operative, very regular and very hard working. He never took a day off from training. During the under 19 trials he bowled really well, but due to politics, he missed out on selection. They asked me to bring him next year, but at that moment I didn't want Shami to miss one year. So I advised his parents to send him to Kolkata."[6]
— Badruddin Siddique on Mohammed Shami
Shami worked hard on his technique throughout his time at Moradabad; after matches, he would request the used balls so that he could develop the ability to reverse swing the older ball, a skill that would be integral to his success later in his career.[7][8][9] He was not, however, selected for the Uttar Pradesh under-19 side, and later in 2005 Badruddin sent him to Kolkata to increase his chances of selection for a state side.[4] After playing for the Dalhousie Athletic Club,[10] he was recommended to Debabrata Das, a former assistant secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal, who was impressed with Shami's bowling and asked him to join his own club, Town Club.[11] Das took Shami, who had no place to stay in Kolkata, to live with him.[9] After bowling well for Town Club, Das asked one of the Bengal selectors, Sambaran Banerjee, to watch Shami bowl; Banerjee was impressed and selected him for the Bengal under-22 team.[4][6]
Domestic career
Shami took four wickets on his senior debut for Bengal in a Twenty20 match in October 2010.[12] The following month, he made his first-class cricket debut against Assam at Eden Gardens, taking three wickets in a high scoring match.[13][14]
In February 2012 his bowling helped East Zone win their first Duleep Trophy title; he took eight wickets in the match and was described as "outstanding, consistently getting bounce and zip from just short of a good length".[15] He had only played in the match following an injury to Abu Nechim, but it proved to be a significant breakthrough in Shami's career;[16] he had been described as "little-known" before the match,[17] but by April was being touted as a player to watch in the upcoming Indian Premier League season.[16]
He was selected to tour the West Indies with the India A side and "impressed" with his bowling on pitches which were considered to be generally unhelpful to fast bowlers.[18] Shami was considered to have been the "surprise package" of the tour for India A, and impressed the team's coach Lalchand Rajput with his strength and consistency whilst bowling, as well as with his batting;[19] batting tenth in the first unofficial Test match, he scored 27 runs in a partnership of 73 with Cheteshwar Pujara which won the match for India A.[20] Later in the year he was one of only two fast bowlers retained for the India A tour of New Zealand,[21] although he only played in two of the six matches on the tour.[22]
During the 2012–13 Ranji Trophy, Shami took 11 wickets in a match against Madhya Pradesh in November, including seven wickets for 79 runs (7/79) in the first innings, a return which included a hat-trick.[23][24] The following month he took 4/36 and 6/71 against Hyderabad on a green wicket at Eden Gardens, his second ten-wicket match in only his 15th first-class game.[c][26][27] In the five Ranji Trophy matches he played during the season he took 28 wickets at a bowling average of 21.25 runs per wicket,[25] and in the 18 first-class matches he played before his Test match debut in 2013 he took 71 wickets, an average of four wickets each match.[8]
Since making his international debut in 2013, Shami has played only occasionally for his state side. He played a limited overs match in March 2017 after not having played any competitive cricket for a period of four months,[28] and took part in four Ranji Trophy matches later in 2017, his first for around five years,[29] to develop and maintain his fitness.[30] A single first-class match for Bengal followed in 2018[22]—with the BCCI requesting that he be limited to bowling no more than 15 overs in each innings in the match to ensure his fitness for an upcoming Test series.[31][32] Shami has not played for Bengal since 2018/19 season.
Awards
Shami received the Arjuna Award from the President of India on 9 January 2024. It is the second highest award for sports in India