Mohammed Shami’s only regret in this season of celestial luck, searing performance and wonder bowling is that he can no longer gorge into biryani, his favourite staple. But now that he has decided to give it up for his first love cricket, his natural ability of pace-driven bowling has acquired a steely grip of excellence through an ultra-fitness band.
And, it has made all the difference as the results have been showing on his World Cup meter. A hat-trick against Afghanistan in the last over of his first game, a four-wicket haul against the West Indies at Manchester, Chris Gayle’s scalp included, and a wonder ball that he stunningly seamed into Hope to have him walk in stunned silence, the man is here to stay despite being brought in as a replacement for Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s stretched hamstring.
Lately, Shami has been in the news for not everything cricket. Allegations of domestic abuse and Infidelity levelled by his wife has had him on the mat. Held up contracts and inopportune injuries have kept him away from the game in the intervening time between the two World Cups.
In the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Shami starred as the leading wicket-taker for India in its journey to the semi-final. And yet, in 2019, he was not the team management’s first choice for the playing 11. His wife still is up with tweets and muck-raking but in his time out, Shami has put his mind to think and work it out, both with body and brains.
“This is Shami 2.0 for you, a piece of work,” his strengthening and conditioning Coach Shanker Basu said the other day. Indeed, so, and typically for a man who came back from the brink of a permanent ouster from the big stage, he gives all the credit to himself, just himself.
“Credit? Who else but me. I give full credit to myself. Because I had to endure all that I was made to go through. What I went through in the past 18 months, it’s me and only me who had to suffer. So credit goes to me,” he reiterated.
Shami’s excellence with his craft was never under doubt, but his fitness and intent were. “He was the last to get on to the fitness bus,” recalls Basu who is now mighty impressed by the bowler whose fat quotient has remained the same in five years.
“I thank the Almighty for giving me the strength to fight everything — from family issues to fitness. I am now only focussed on doing well for my country,” Shami said. With eight game-changing wickets, including a hat-trick, in just two games, it is an appropriate state of mind for the quick to be in.
Shami bore the scorn of accusations which took the social media and the news headlines by fire. Then, he failed the Yo-Yo test. He sat out for around 2 years and almost lost a central contract on personal points. “It wasn't only about failing YoYo test. There are times when your rhythm goes for a toss. I failed that's a separate thing but then I have worked hard and improved my fitness. I feel I am in a good zone now as I have lost weight, got rhythm and everything is working for me,” he said.
The team’s bowling coach Bharat Arun, along with head coach Ravi Shastri, went into a pretty long conversation with Shami in trying to bring him back. “Shami was in a totally different mindset. We had to sit down, speak to him, draw a future map for him and convince him regarding that. What has really got him into the situation that he is, is his ability to play cricket and that’s exactly what we made him focus on,” he says.
After Shami finally put his mind to fitness, he surprised even himself too. “When I look into the mirror, I cannot believe it is me,” he said. And if that meant dropping the naans and the rice, he did it with determination. “I now try to maintain my diet, training regime consistently. Because I am feeling stronger, not getting tired easily, my speed has also increased. And as far as skill is concerned, I always knew I can perform well on any track,” he said.
Not just pace and bowling acumen, but also longevity in bowling consistently fast and into the blockhole are Shami’s extraordinary abilities. He watched Gayle play in his IPL team keenly and then bounced him out after a containment policy, a policy that had the King in a bit of a tizzy. “I knew that if I don’t allow him to chance his arms, he will get out in desperation trying to hit me,” Shami said.
This is just a beginning Shami would be looking at. Had he not lost three games into the tournament, he may have been in the top bowler’s list for the tournament, rubbing shoulders with the Starcs and Amirs with the 19s and the 16s. But now that he is where he is, with nothing but untoward injury to see him off, she says: “Look, 15 people have come to represent the country. You must have had something special that you are in that 15, isn’t it? It’s about remaining patient and positive. And, yes, have a clever mind,” he says matter of fact, even as Arun admits the team is now having a riches problem, a problem of plenty, making Bhuvneshwar’s return to the squad a tad difficult.
For Shami, that’s a good personal space to be in, with a different kind of TikTok content he is scripting with salutes and marches midfield, with his arm dancing in the most positive direction of his career.