Boost is the secret of pacer Mohammed Shami’s energy. Not the drink, but the boost that came from his personal problems and a series of failed fitness tests. So much so that his strength and conditioning coach Shanker Basu calls it a blessing in disguise.
“Shami failing the fitness test was a blessing in disguise. After that, we was a changed man, so determined. He is blessed with some amazing gene. We all know about intermittent fasting. He doesn’t even know what it is, but he does it on his own. His fat percentage in three years has remained exactly the same. He is a piece of work,” he said.
Shami has long been struggling with marital discord and divorce issues but his main failing had been his aversion to fitness training. “He used to be the last one to get into the bus,” Basu said. Which makes the bowler’s present makeover a big achievement.
“The best part is he has changed his entire training regime. Now training is part of his lifestyle which never used to be so. But after his personal setback and failing the fitness test he is a changed man. This is the 2.0 version of Mohammed Shami,” a proud Basu said.
Indeed, one look at the way he was bowling at nets on Wednesday, and you would know this right-arm-fast-medium quick has changed since 2015 when he took 77 or the 80 wickets at hand. The intervening years brought in fat, a failed marriage, a public spat, hovering ban and a lazy fitness drive. But bowling to Rohit Sharma and then Virat Kohli, in the absence of hamstrung Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he did not look one bit rusted.