Sports
For Shami, a fairy tale World Cup (Profile)
By
By Debdoot Das Kolkata, March 16
As a teenager he moved from
the sleepy village of Sahaspur in Uttar Pradesh to theAsmall clubs of
Kolkata, marking up his first nervous steps to make it big as a fast
bowler. Now leading the list of Indian wicket-takers - and second
overall - in the ongoing World Cup, Mohammed Shami seems to be on a
dream run, capping years of struggle.
After a horrid
tri-series and Test matches against Australia and England, Indian pace
spearhead Shami has witnessed a upswing in his fortunes. With 15 victims
from the Pool matches, the Bengal cricketer is only one adrift of the
most successful bowler - Mitchell Starc of Australia.
Shami, who
completed 25 years on March 9, has impressed both fans and critics with
his art of seam bowling and dispelled anxieties of the team management
which was badly in search of a leader for the young and inexperienced
bowling attack following Bhuvneshwar Kumar's indisposition.
Clocking
the 140 kmph mark with ease, swinging the leather both ways, Shami has
extracted steep bounce and bowled an impeccable line and length
throughout the five games he has played for the Men-in-Blue so far.
Of
India's half a dozen games, Shami missed out the clash against the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to a knee injury - but in all other
matches, he played a lethal role as the Indians each time bowled out the
opposition.
The right-arm bowler finished with 4-35 in the
lung-opener against arch-rivals Pakistan and carried the good form into
the South Africa game, taking 2-30.
After injury forced him to
sit out the next exchange, Shami was back with a bang against the West
Indies, seeing the back of demolisher Chris Gayle, opener Dwayne Smith
and the dangerous-looking Darren Sammy.
Against Ireland, too, he pocketed three wickets, giving away 41 runs.
Again,
on Saturday against Zimbabwe, M.S. Dhoni's most trusted new ball and
death bowler did not disappoint his skipper as he picked up the wickets
of Chamu Chibhabha, Sikandar Raza and Tinashe Panyangara. Raza, who was
middling the ball quite well, was clean bowled with a peach of a yorker
that hit the base of middle stump.
Shami has maintained an overall economy rate of 4.376 and a phenomenal strike rate of 12.6 in the World Cup so far.
For a man who made his one-day international debut against Pakistan in 2013, it has been a phenomenal performance.
But how did he metamorphosed Shami from a profligate, luckless bowler months back to an economic and lethal pacer?
He himself has credited three individuals, two of them former Pakistani speedsters.
While
Shoaib Akhtar's advice helped Shami shorten his run up and increase his
pace, Wasim Akram told him not to compromise on speed.
Ahead of the Zimbabwe game, Shami also acknowledged Dhoni's contribution.
"I
am always free and I have never been tensed when he has captained the
side. He is someone who has always told me about my mistakes and asked
me not to repeat them in the future. He never gets angry."
But the beginnings were quite tough.
Having
migrated to Kolkata, Shami had to sleep in the club tent or shared
hotel rooms, making Rs.500 per match in his early playing career. Far
away from his family, the youngster immersed himself in practice to
forget his loneliness.
All that hard work and spartan living has now paid off.
(Debdoot Das can be contacted at [email protected])