Shami dedicates haul to Sachin, family
Pacer from a village in Uttar Pradesh makes his mark
Kolkata: It was a dream debut for 24-year-old Mohammad Shami. His spell of four for 71 in front of his home crowd broke the back of West Indies batting on the first day of the first Test at Eden Gardens.
“Being able to play at Eden Gardens in a Test match is a great feeling. The fact that I made my debut with Sachin Tendulkar in the team makes it special. I am delighted at playing with Tendulkar in my home ground. This is the biggest thing that can happen to me,” an affable Shami remarked, hardly able to contain his excitement.
Shami dedicated his performance to Tendulkar and his own family. “The most important thing that has happened to me is being able to play with Sachin Tendulkar so I’d dedicate this performance to him first. I’m thankful to my family for backing me, being from the background and place I come from. All the credit goes to my family,” said Shami, who hails from a small village in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district and came to Kolkata six years ago.
“There is no cricket there in the place I come from. First of all, I want to dedicate my debut performance to my family. My mother backed me a lot. My father, uncle, my older brother have all played the game and are fast bowlers,” he said.
Shami’s biggest advantage is that he can reverse swing the ball. “The first ball before the change was swinging a little less and it got a bit soft. After it was changed, it was swinging and reversing well.”
Asked about his approach on Wednesday, Shami said: “I just bowled to my strengths. I don’t look at the batsman in front of me. I just work on my strengths — line and length and swing. I work on that more. The important thing for me is that I don’t look at the opposition or the batsman, I just follow my line and length.”
Which one was the most important wicket of the day? “Of course, my debut wicket. Though all wickets are equal to me, my debut wicket gave me the most joy,” he said, also urging the media not to address him incorrectly. “My actual name is Mohammad Shami, so it would be nice if I’m called the right way. My name appears in the press as Shami Ahmad, and they also make the ‘h’ silent,” he said.
