'Shami came to me angry, said 'I want to quit cricket'. I immediately took him to Ravi Shastri and...'': Ex-India coach
Embracing a tumultuous time on the personal front, pacer Mohammed Shami was ready to call time on his cricket career. Former India bowling Bharat Arun has revealed that pacer Shami had a life-changing conversation with ex-Indian head coach Ravi Shastri before the Men In Blue toured England.
The year was 2018 and Mohammed Shami had failed a yo-yo test ahead of England tour. Little did Shami know that his failure in the yo-yo test would prove to be a major turning point in his impressive international career. Embracing a tumultuous time on the personal front, pacer Shami was ready to call time on his cricket career. So what changed and how the Indian pacer came roaring back after the setback?
Former India bowling Bharat Arun has revealed that pacer Shami had a life-changing conversation with ex-India head coach Ravi Shastri before the Men In Blue toured England. In his open and honest conversation with the then-India head coach, speedster Shami expressed his desire of quitting cricket due to personal reasons. Prior to his unimpressive fitness test in 2018, star pacer Shami had also suffered multiple setbacks due to an injury.
"Just before the 2018 tour of England, we had a fitness test and Shami had failed it. He lost his place in the Indian team. He called me and said he wanted to have a word with me. So I invited him to my room; he was going through a personal turmoil. His fitness was affected, mentally he was gone. He came to me and said 'I am very angry and I want to quit cricket'. I immediately took Shami to meet Ravi Shastri. We both went up to his room and I said 'Ravi, Shami wants to say something'. Ravi asked what it was and Shami told him the same thing that 'I don't want to play cricket'. Both of us asked 'What will you do if not play cricket?' What else do you know? You know how to bowl when given the ball," Arun told Cricbuzz.
Dumped out of the India squad, Shami was replaced by Delhi pacer Navdeep Saini, who was uncapped at the time. Urging Shami to turn his pain into power, head coach Shastri encouraged a distraught pacer to work on his comeback by spending four weeks at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). The former Indian head coach decided to send Shami back to NCA instead of his hometown. The decision worked like a charm as Shami ended up reviving his career.
"So Ravi said 'It's good that you're angry. This is the best thing that has happened to you because you have a ball in hand. Your fitness is poor. Whatever anger it is that you have, take it out on your body. We are going to send you to National Cricket Academy and want you to go there for 4 weeks and stay there. You will not go home, and only head to NCA. It suited Shami also because he had a problem going to Kolkata then so he spent 5 weeks at the NCA. I still remember the call he made and told me 'Sir, I have become like a stallion. Make me run as much as you want'. The 5 weeks that he spent there, he realised what working on fitness can do to him," Arun added.
After missing the one-off Test against Afghanistan, a fit-again Shami was recalled into India's squad for the England series. Shami played all five Test matches against England in 2018. India's pace spearhead Shami emerged as the second-highest wicket-taker for the visitors after veteran pacer Ishant Sharma in the England series. The 32-year-old picked up 16 wickets for the visitors. While Ishant Sharma and Shami delivered the goods with the ball against England, former Indian skipper Virat Kohli smashed 593 runs in the five-match series. However, India suffered a humiliating 4-1 defeat at the hands of hosts England in the 2018 bilateral Test series.