Mohammed Shami

Mohammed Shami 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 and for four teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

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. 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

His father, Tauseef Ali was a farmer who had been a fast bowler in his youth. When Shami was 15 he was taken to Badruddin Siddique, a cricket coach in Moradabad, a town 22 kilometres (14 mi) from his home.

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.

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.

After playing for the Dalhousie Athletic Club, 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. Das took Shami, who had no place to stay in Kolkata, to live with him.

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.

Shami later joined Mohun Bagan Cricket Club, one of the best sides in Bengal, in order to be considered for selection to the full state side.

He bowled to former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly in the Eden Gardens nets; Ganguly recommended him to the state selectors and, soon afterwards, Shami was included in the Bengal squad for the 2010 – 11 Ranji Trophy.

Domestic Career:

• Shami took four wickets on his senior debut for Bengal in a Twenty20 match in October 2010. The following month, he made his first – class cricket debut against Assam at Eden Gardens, taking three wickets in a high scoring match.
• In February 2012 his bowling helped East Zone win their first Duleep Trophy title; he took eight wickets in the match.
• 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; 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 Franchise Career:

• Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) debut: on 21 March 2014 against Pakistan in the opening match of the 2014 T20 World Cup and took the wicket of Umar Akmal, to give him figures of 1/31 in 4 overs bowled
• Shami was signed by Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011.
• Shami was signed by Delhi Daredevils in the 2014 player auction.
• After being released by Delhi ahead of the 2019 season, Shami was bought by Kings XI Punjab in the 2019 player auction.
• This was the first time in IPL history that a single – digit score had been defended in a super over and earned Shami praise for the way in which he bowled precise yorkers under pressure.
• In the 2021 season, Shami took 19 wickets in 14 matches and finished as Punjab’s leading wicket-taker for the third straight season and as the fifth highest wicket – taker in that year’s competition. During the season he became the fourth bowler in franchise history to take 50 wickets for Punjab. Ahead of the 2022 IPL auction he was, however, released by the side.
• He was purchased by Gujarat Titans, a newly formed franchise, for INR 6.25 crore (equivalent to US $790,000 in 2023). He took 20 wickets at an economy rate of 8.00 runs per over during the season as Gujarat won the league title in their first season.
• He set new career best T20 bowling figures in IPL 2023, taking his first four – wicket haul in the format against Delhi. The same season, he won the Purple Cap (leading wicket – taker) for the first time, with 28 wickets from 17 matches, besides being the leading wicket – taker in the powerplay in a season in the history of the league, taking 17 wickets in all during the phase.

International Career:

• Test debut against West Indies in November 2013 in front of his home crowd at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
• In the first innings, he took his maiden Test wicket – that of Kieran Powell – and finished with figures of 4/71. His match total of nine wickets, for 118 runs, is the most by an Indian pacer on debut, surpassing Munaf Patel’s seven wickets for 97 runs at Mohali in 2006.
• He was involved in a 111 – run partnership for the 10th wicket, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first Test at Trent Bridge, scoring his maiden half – century in the process and helping India post 457 in the first innings.

Major Achievements:

• 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.
• He took 15 wickets in three Tests during India’s 2014 – 15 tour of Australia, and went on to become the 20th Indian fast bowler to take 100 Test wickets, reaching the milestone in 29 Tests.
• During 2019 – 21 ICC World Test Championship series, Shami reached seventh position in the ICC Men’s Player Rankings after taking seven wickets in the first Test. His rating of 790 points was then the third – best achieved by an India pace bowler, behind only Kapil Dev (877) and Jasprit Bumrah (832).
• Shami was the joint – tenth highest wicket taker in the tournament, along with Jofra Archer, with 40 wickets in total. He was the highest wicket taker among the Indian pacers and the second highest of all Indian bowlers, behind only Ravichandran Ashwin.
• During the 2021 – 23 ICC World Test Championship, in the 2021 India – England series, on 16 August 2021.
• InIndia’s second innings, Shami made his highest score and second half-century in Test cricket, with an unbeaten score of 56* in a partnership with Jasprit Bumrah, which helped team India to script a historical win against England.
• Playing 3 matches in the 5 – match series, Shami finished as the fifth highest wicket-taker of the series with 11 wickets with the best figures of 4/95 coming during the first innings of the third match of the series.
• During the first innings of the first Test of the India – South Africa 2021 – 22 Test series, Shami took 5 wickets for 44 runs and became the fifth Indian pacer (and with the fewest number of deliveries – 9896) to take 200 wickets in Test cricket. He finished the series with 14 wickets from 3 matches as the leading wicket taker of India in the series.