Doctors said I would be lucky to walk without a limp: Shami

There were some stellar individual performances by runners-up India in the just-concluded ICC World Cup, but talk about the most dramatic and engaging, and it has got to be that of Mohammed Shami. 

Just ponder this — the seniormost pace bowler in the squad, playing his third World Cup, is made to sit out for the first four matches for the sake of 'team combination'. A freak injury to Hardik Pandya opens the doors, however, and the 33-year-old sets the tone with a five-wicket haul against New Zealand, going on to become the highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 24 wickets, including three fifers and the best-ever haul by any bowler in the knockout stages. 

Reflecting on his rollercoaster journey from his first World Cup in Australia, Shami recalled how his fledgling career was all but over ahead of the tournament. “I had a swelling in my knee before the 2015 tournament. Someone else could have said no, but I have a stronger ability to bear pain and I was given two options — either directly go for surgery, or play the tournament and then go for surgery.

"While the team would return to the hotel after every match, I would go to the hospital for injections. When you play for the country, you forget everything,‘‘ Shami said in a recent interview released by his sponsors Puma India. 

Soon after ending up as the joint highest wicket-taker for India with 17 wickets, he went under the knife in 2015. “I was unconscious for two hours. When I woke up, I asked the doctor when I could start playing, and he replied: it will be a big achievement if you walk without a limp, forget playing. It all depends on how you go about your rehab,” Shami revealed in the interview. 

Cut to 19 November 2023. Shami had not only surpassed the likes of Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan to become the highest wicket-taker for India in the World Cup with 55 wickets from 18 matches, but created history in the semi-finals when he overhauled Australian Gary Gilmour’s haul of 6/14 against England in the 1975 semi-finals — the best bowling figures in the knockout stages until now. 

How difficult was it for him to sit out for the first four games, as also in the Asia Cup, where he was treated as the third pacer after Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj? “When you sit out four matches, you need to be mentally strong. Sometimes you are under pressure, but when you see the team performing well and going in a good direction, it gives you satisfaction,” he said.

If fitness problems and injuries dogged him in the early part of his career, personal problems blew his world apart when his wife Hasin Jahan filed a criminal case against him in Kolkata in 2018, complaining of infidelity and domestic abuse. As a result, Shami lapsed into serious depression and even admitted contemplating suicide in a tell-all interview during the pandemic.

Asked about his mental health issues in the recent interview, Shami said: "I had stopped playing cricket, but then my family and friends provided me with the biggest support. I also realised that I would have to take fresh guard, since this is the sport which has given me everything".

Coming out of that personal crisis, Shami had a decent 2019 World Cup too, with a hattrick and 14 wickets in all, but the just concluded one was at a different level. "See, it’s ultimately the bowlers who win you matches. They often do not get enough credit and most kids want to become batters only," the man of the moment added with a smile.