Following some hardships in the personal life, Mohammed Shami says his love for cricket assisted him to fight the off-field battles and make a thunderous comeback to cricket field. Shami, who failed to create an impact in the IPL and the practise match against Essex, picked two wickets in the first test giving away just 64 runs. He was clearly the more supreme of the three Indian pacers.
Shami’s wife Hasin Jahan shared a series of posts on Facebook and WhatsApp chats on 7 march. She accused Shami of cheating on her and abusing her physically and mentally.
Love for cricket to the rescue
“(The tour of) South Africa was a long time ago and there have been some off field issues after that. I had to fight a lot in between but my effort was that I have to keep doing what I love most and what is most important to me (cricket),” Shami said.
“I wanted to just keep doing my job and then see what happens to the rest of the stuff in my life. Whatever difficulties I face, first I wanted to play cricket and keep doing it. The result is in front of us.”
Satisfied with his and team’s efforts
“As a bowling unit and as an individual I am very happy today. This is the thing I have worked hard for and we have been able to bring it forward successfully,” said Shami who picked the wickets of Keaton Jennings and Dawid Malan.
“There are ups and downs in life and in your family. But when playing for your country there is a responsibility and when you do that job properly, I think that’s the best thing. So I am very happy with today.”
Talking about the wicket
“In the morning the wicket was a little slower and there was hard work for sure. On such wickets we have to maintain good line and length all day. It was a little tough initially because it was slow and a little damp. We didn’t do anything extra during those overs,” said the 28-years-old Bengal cricketer.
“Initially when you bowl on such wickets here you get an idea how it will behave and what you need to keep doing. So there weren’t many changes in our approach during the day but we tried to control line and length through the day, and tried not to give any width,” he added.
No room for second spinner
The Edgbaston wicket was a bit dry and offered something for the spinners. Cricket pundits believed India and England have missed a trick by not opting for second spinner. However, Shami feels Indian pacers tuned up with lone spinner Ashwin and that they don’t need an extra spinner.
“If you see in a Test match, there is a lot of time and you can come back if there is a good partnership. You bowl according to the wicket and batsmen, so as a captain or as a bowler, you get to think,” he said.
“You can assess situation as per the wicket, and that’s how you choose your bowling unit and then work on the basis of that. So you cannot say that we missed or will miss an extra spinner.
“We have to believe in the team selection and fight with the same group of bowlers, instead of thinking what you don’t have,” said Shami.
Praises for Ashwin
Shami was also full of praises for his team mate Ravichandran Ashwin who bagged four scalps. Shami said the English conditions favour the fast bowlers but a spinner being amongst the wickets gives the team alot of confidence.
Shami feels playing the oversees tour together has helped the team produce quality bowling line-up.
