The Sahaspur made Engine to the proud Shami Express of India; the Mohammed Shami story

The Sahaspur made Engine to the proud Shami Express of India; the Mohammed Shami story: Everyone in India might have various academic streams, career choices and professions, but we all have that common love for cricket and have had an inner dream of becoming an Indian cricketer. Similar dream wove in Tousif Ali’s eyes, everybody who saw him bowl felt and said he could become a professional cricketer. But some dreams remain unfulfilled and so when Tousif saw his younger son Shami show similar signs and as he bowled faster than the father could, the suppressed feelings saw a new canal to channelize and realize what he couldn’t.

He had a humble background and the village of Sahaspur where they lived had no wicket, not even a ground to play at, other than the open fields of mud. Early years of cricket happened there, and then as he entered college Shami traveled to Sonakpur in Moradabad where he found a coach and mentor in Baruddin Siddique.

Siddique could sense this boy was different and had the ability, rather pace in him to make it count. When through certain links Sumon Chakraborty of the Dalhousie Cricket Club came in touch with him, Siddique couldn’t help but refer this boy Mohammed Shami Ahmed as someone he had and could bowl ‘fast’ and suggested him to have a look at the boy.

Tousif had a tough call to make, Shami was 16 then and the family neither earned enough to support the boy’s expense nor were they capable of shifting base to a new state and city Kolkata where their son had an opportunity to play. The cricket loving father decided to let destiny take his son to his goal and bypassing every hurdle allowed Shami to go to Kolkata and chase it!

At the Dalhousie Cricket Club, Shami impressed everyone with his determination and pace. And gradually also earned 500 rupees per match to support the finances, till then he stayed at the club and slept at available space. There came a point soon when Chakraborty felt a talent like Shami would be wasted if not pushed ahead on a better recognizable path. And that was when Debabrata Das of the Town Club from Bengal came into the scene; such is the bond and relationship between the two that Das is till today a friend, philosopher, and guide to the Indian pacer.

It was soon that Das who had also served as the Secretary at the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) realized that for Shami to make his way to the top, needed better infrastructure to train and opportunities to showcase his talent. This was when he decided to leave personal gains behind and push this young boy to play for the Mohun Bagan Club. Mohun Bagan not only had better pitches and facilities but was a place where the spotlight could fall on Shami.

Till the time he trained and played at the Town Club, Shami had already got into the Bengal squad but was yet to crack a spot in the Playing XI. All this while, what highlighted and put Shami ahead of everyone else was his ability to ball quick, a natural swinger of the ball; he had also developed a perfect wrist position with a swift action to pitch the ball with an upright seam.

The Indian cricket team post the World Cup 2011 triumph was not only facing the blues in overseas cricket but was also missing bowlers who were not just medium pacers. The 120s and 130s are too easy for international cricketers today, even if the ball did a bit. In their bid to find guys who possessed the beast inside them and the ability to bowl with some raw, challenging pace Mohammed Shami got into the reckons.

A stint at the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) under bowling coach the Pakistan legend Wasim Akram helped Shami learn the art of pace and swing bowling from the best. Akram has always maintained that teaching a bowler the art of swinging the ball was not a huge task but bowling fast comes inherent.

Shami who brings the pace, at which he makes the best batsmen in international cricket dance today in heredity from his father; continues to run in hard for every match, spell and with the new ball that he comes in, to bowl. The Indian cricket team is in Australia fighting it out with the best teams in ODI cricket to defend the ICC Cricket World Champions title they earned in 2011. India is now among the top 4s in the tournament and the role Mohammed Shami is playing today is of the pace spearheading of the Indian bowling attack.

Till today, he has featured for India in 46 One Day International matches and has grabbed 87 wickets, with which he is also a front-runner in becoming the fastest Indian bowler to complete 100 wickets in ODI cricket.

He is the leading wicket taker for India in the World Cup 2015 and is in the race for the top wicket taker in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at number three, two wickets behind New Zealand’s Trent Boult who has 19 and Australian pacer Mitchell Starc with 18, has one more than India’s Mohammed Shami who has 17 scalps in the tournament thus far.

This is not just another pace bowling unit from India, the three men Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma and Shami have shown the best batsmen in the world what they are made of and have bounced most of them out of the game. All the batting line-ups that have faced them have gone all down and as the team gears up for the big match (semi-finals) against Australia lot of us are expecting Shami, who has been an outright performer to come good and take the team not only through to the final but complete a successful title defense.