Hailing from a remote village in Uttar Pradesh, born to a fast-bowler-turned-farmer, Mohammed Shami’s father spotted a spark in only one of his five children (all aspiring fast bowlers) and took him to a renowned coach in Moradabad, the closest city to their village. A bundle of energy, he was known to be a hard-worker full of stamina and trained like a workhorse under the watchful eye of Badruddin Siddique. After being snubbed from the U-19 selections due to alleged politically-corrupt selections, Shami was advised to move to Kolkata by his coach. He was taken under the apprenticeship of Debabrata Das to the extent of staying under his roof and just about made it to the U-22 Bengal side. After a specially conducted net session supervised by Sourav Ganguly, Shami was recognized as a special talent and after a tough grind through the ranks, he got his chance to represent Bengal at the Ranji level. After a commendable set of performances at the domestic level, Shami was selected for the West Indies A tour in 2012, where he impressed with his pace and lateral movement on relatively flat surfaces with little or no assistance for fast bowlers. From an impressive 10-wicket haul at the grassy Eden track to the unprecedented 11-wicket haul at the rather unhelpful Indore track, Shami was fast proving to be one of the stand-out and versatile performers in the Indian domestic circuit. Shami slowly made his way into national reckoning and was handed an ODI debut in early 2013. Slowly but surely, he started to make significant contributions and with his ability to reverse/contrast swing the old white ball, he became an indispensable asset to the limited-overs side, becoming the second-fastest Indian to 50 ODI wickets in the process. He proved his worth in gold in the 2015 World Cup taking 17 wickets and ending up as one of the highest wicket-takers in the tournament. It was later revealed that he had played the World Cup through a knee injury. Looking a tad deeper into the performance, he was India’s most economical bowler in the tournament, except in the semi-final loss against Australia, in a period when the power-play laws were stacked for the batsmen. IPL - Through the years Initially part of his home franchise - Kolkata Knight Riders - Mohammed Shami got only a handful of opportunities. Post his impressive international debut, Delhi Daredevils bought him for Rs. 4.25 crore in 2014. Shami has been on the expensive side with the ball in the Indian Premier League and injuries hasn’t helped his cause either. With his IPL economy rate above 9, his 5-year association with Delhi ended as the franchise decided to release him. During the 2019 IPL auctions, Shami was roped in by Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) for Rs 4.40 crore. Having regained his mojo in white-ball cricket, Shami’s fortunes changed since then. He performed brilliantly in the three seasons he played for them – 19 wickets (2019), 20 wickets (2020), 19 wickets (2021). Shami was drafted in by Gujarat Titans in 2022 in their debut season. He shone with the ball again, taking 20 wickets in 17 games and played a pivotal role in helping the Titans lift the IPL title in their first season. He bettered his performance in the next season (2023) with them. He won the Purple Cap for taking the highest number of wickets (28) in 17 matches in the 2023 season.
