When a young Mohammed Shami took a train to Calcutta in 2006, in pursuit of a cricket career, neither his father Tousif Ahmed, his coach Badruddin nor Shami could envision the destiny that awaited the youngster.
After repeatedly failing to catch the attention in the UP Under-19 trials despite the potential, Badruddin convinced Shami’s family to let him travel to Calcutta to play cricket in the hope that the time he spent there would be a learning process, and he could come back to UP, better prepared to try his luck, again.
However, as luck would have it, that train journey ensured he did not have to leave anything to chance in his life again.
“I got a phone call about players needed in a club in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and I convinced Shami’s father that he will do well, and it’s probably the right time for him to go and try his luck there, play somewhere else for a year and get himself ready. If needed, he can come back,” remembers Badruddin.
In Calcutta, the then president of Dalhousie Athletic Club Tapan Chaki was looking for a bowler. His club was languishing in the 2nd division of the Calcutta league, so he made a few calls.
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Little did Chaki know whom he was about to bring to his club.
“Our coach at the time, Simanto Hajra, picked two players from the four we got from UP. He (Shami) was one of them. We did all the formalities and had him enlisted,” says Chaki.
The Maidans
Amidst the myriad clubs dotting the Esplanade area, the Dalhousie Athletic Club, then managed by Chaki, became Shami’s initiation onto the hallowed Kolkata maidans.
Situated adjacent to the iconic Eden Gardens, the Kolkata maidans pulsate with sporting activities from football to hockey to volleyball and cricket.
With an endless number of clubs in the peripheries, the vast expansiveness of the maidans is a spectacle to behold – it is a testament to Kolkata’s sporting heritage.
At Dalhousie, Shami made an instant impact; during his time there, the club reached the first division.
Chaki vividly remembers how Shami took a truckload of wickets.
“Tapan da, chinta mut karo (Don’t worry),” Shami would say, and Chaki would know the job will be done.
Shami soon started to get noticed and it was then that Debabrata Das, the current Hon. Secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), got a call inviting him to see a Moradabad boy, aged 15-16, going by the name of Shami who has exceptional bowling skills, boasting of pinpoint accuracy.
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Das noticed that despite lacking the typical physique of a fast bowler, Shami was bowling quick and with an upright seam position.
God’s Gift
Das picked Shami up for his Town Club and welcomed him home.
“I asked him, ‘Where are you from?’ He replied, ‘Moradabad.’ I then asked, ‘Will you play for Calcutta?’ He agreed but mentioned he had no place to stay. I took him in, despite initial reservations at home, emphasizing that cricket knows no religion or caste,” recalls Das.
Shami was unmatched in commitment. He spent hours perfecting his bowling in the nets alone. Das recalls giving him 100 rupees for food and Rs 70,000 for the season, which pales compared to Shami’s achievements now.
“Shami has a god-gifted talent. His pace bowling theory, concept, and emotions for the game are indescribable,” says Das.
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“Shami’s perfect wrist position baffles even renowned bowling coaches, and I knew I had to get this boy the opportunities he deserves,” he adds.
Das fondly remembers a game where Shami, motivated by the promise of “4 Biryani” took a double hat-trick, turning the tide of the match.
The ‘Junoon’
That perfect wrist position, Badruddin reveals, is the product of Shami’s ‘junoon’ for the game.
“The biggest aspects of his bowling action or bowling armoury are the seam and the wrist positions. He has amazing wrist control. One of the things that I told him to do was to take the old ball home, lie down on his ‘Charpai’, and throw the ball at the wall, trying to get his wrist position right. And he used to do that every night.
“It came to a point when his father came up to me one day complaining Shami won’t stop doing that, and one side of the wall is full of red marks and it has become a nuisance! I had to tell Shami to go slow with it. And that is how he has got that fantastic wrist position. It is all his hard work. It is like junoon. It was a type of madness that he had for the game. He never shied away from hard work, and what you see right now with his wrist position and with this control was due to the diligent fact that he always, always put in the hard yards,” says Badruddin.
The Ascendency
Back in Kolkata, Shami didn’t inspire much confidence when he made his debut.
Das, unfazed, kept fighting for his ward and once he joined the famed Mohun Bagan, Shami got his big break.
Das approached Sambran Banerjee, the former Ranji player, and the then-selection committee chairman, and convinced him to give Shami a chance. And the rest, as they say, is history.
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Shami continued to impress and with only 15 First-Class games under his belt, had broken through the Indian team, playing the ODIs in 2013 and eventually making his Test debut the same year at his adopted home ground of the Eden Gardens.
10 years on, a lot has changed for Shami – he is part of the Indian bowling attack that is being hailed as the best assembled in the country’s rich history.
But these 10 years have not been, by any stretch of imagination, a smooth sailing for Shami.
From injuries to personal issues that hogged the limelight, Shami has had to overcome distractions which he did and continues to do so.
Das and Badruddin offer insights into how he has achieved this and how his mental fortitude shaped him into the individual he has become today.
“One of the turning points for him was how his marriage collapsed and its aftermath. Dealing with it has made him stronger and focus on cricket more than anything. For him, it was always the Indian team, desh ke liye khelna hai,” Badruddin said.
Das echoes similar sentiments. “Shami does not react to anything outside of cricket. His focus is simple: take the ball and hit the stumps,” he says.
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