72 Facts About Mohammed Shami

Mohammed Shami plays for Mohun Bagan in domestic competitions of West Bengal.

Mohammed Shami has been reputed to have an edge in the death overs of a limited-overs innings and, in all formats, has been described as being at times "unplayable".

Mohammed Shami finished as the tournament's leading wicket taker in the ICC World Cup 2023, besides being the fastest bowler to take 50 wickets in the 48 years history of Cricket World Cup spanning 13 editions.

Mohammed Shami is recipient of 2023 Arjuna Award for Cricket.

Mohammed Shami grew up in the village of Sahaspur in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, one of five children.

Mohammed Shami's father, Tauseef Ali was a farmer who had been a fast bowler in his youth.

When Mohammed Shami was 15 he was taken to Badruddin Siddique, a cricket coach in Moradabad, a town 22 kilometres from his home.

Mohammed Shami was very co-operative, very regular and very hard working.

Mohammed Shami worked hard on his technique throughout his time at Moradabad; after matches, he would request the used balls so that he could develop the ability to reverse swing the older ball, a skill that would be integral to his success later in his career.

Mohammed Shami was not selected for the Uttar Pradesh under-19 side, and later in 2005 Badruddin sent him to Kolkata to increase his chances of selection for a state side.

Das took Mohammed Shami, who had no place to stay in Kolkata, to live with him.

Mohammed Shami's goal was the stumps, the sound that comes from hitting the stumps.

Mohammed Shami later joined Mohun Bagan Cricket Club, one of the best sides in Bengal, in order to be considered for selection to the full state side.

Mohammed Shami took four wickets on his senior debut for Bengal in a Twenty20 match in October 2010.

Mohammed Shami was selected to tour the West Indies with the India A side and "impressed" with his bowling on pitches which were considered to be generally unhelpful to fast bowlers.

Since making his international debut in 2013, Mohammed Shami has played only occasionally for his state side.

Mohammed Shami played a limited overs match in March 2017 after not having played any competitive cricket for a period of four months, and took part in four Ranji Trophy matches later in 2017, his first for around five years, to develop and maintain his fitness.

Mohammed Shami made his Test debut against West Indies in November 2013 in front of his home crowd at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Mohammed Shami was selected for India's tour of South Africa and New Zealand, taking 16 Test wickets in total.

Mohammed Shami had little success on India's 2014 tour of England finishing with just five wickets in three matches.

Mohammed Shami finished the series with 16 wickets, including six in the fourth Test.

Mohammed Shami took thirteen in the home series against South Africa and five in New Zealand.

Mohammed Shami retired hurt and was ruled out of the rest of the series.

Mohammed Shami was the joint-tenth highest wicket taker in the tournament, along with Jofra Archer, with 40 wickets in total.

Mohammed Shami was the highest wicket taker among the Indian pacers and the second highest of all Indian bowlers, behind only Ravichandran Ashwin.

Mohammed Shami played in the Test Championship final against New Zealand at The Rose Bowl in Southampton.

Mohammed Shami took four wickets in the first innings, but New Zealand won the match by 8 wickets.

In India's tour of New Zealand in 2014, Mohammed Shami took 11 wickets in ODIs at an average of 28.72.

On 5 March 2014, during 2014 Asia Cup, against Afghanistan, Mohammed Shami reached the target of 50 ODI wickets in his 29th innings.

Mohammed Shami ended the tournament with 9 wickets at 23.59.

Mohammed Shami took 10 wickets at 17.40 against West Indies in October 2014.

Mohammed Shami was in the 15-man squad for 5 ODIs against Sri Lanka in November 2014, but he was replaced by Dhawal Kulkarni due to a toe injury he suffered during the West Indies series.

Hat-trick in World Cup - Mohammad Mohammed Shami has taken a hat-trick in the ICC Cricket World Cup, making him one of the few Indian bowlers to achieve this feat.

Mohammed Shami was in the 15-man squad named for the 2015 Cricket World Cup and was eventually included in the playing XI.

Mohammed Shami took 4 wickets for 35 runs from his 9 overs in India's first match against Pakistan, helping India win the match.

Mohammed Shami took a brace against Bangladesh in the quarter final but had a poor game against Australia in the semi-final, which India lost, where he gave away 68 runs off 10 overs without picking a wicket, thus finishing the tournament with 17 wickets at an average of 17.29 and an economy rate of 4.81 as the fourth leading wicket-taker.

Mohammed Shami returned to the squad for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy after a two-year hiatus due to a shoulder injury.

In January 2019, during the tour of New Zealand, Mohammed Shami claimed his 100th ODI wicket in first of the five games by bowling Martin Guptill.

Mohammed Shami reached this milestone in his 56th match, an Indian record previously held by Irfan Pathan, who completed 100 ODI wickets in his 59th match.

Mohammed Shami was one of the only three fast bowlers to feature in the squad, the other two being Jasprit Bumrah and the white ball specialist, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

On 22 June 2019, in the match against Afghanistan, Mohammed Shami took a hat-trick and became the ninth cricketer and the second Indian bowler after Chetan Sharma to claim a hat-trick in a World Cup match.

Mohammed Shami had the best bowling strike rate of 15.07 and the best average of 13.78 of all the bowlers in the tournament with at least six overs bowled.

Mohammed Shami was included in India's 15-man squad for the 2023 Asia Cup.

Mohammed Shami played his first match in this series against Nepal replacing Jasprit Bumrah who had to leave the squad and return to Mumbai for personal reasons.

Mohammed Shami finished the 2023 World Cup as the leading wicket-taker with 24 wickets in 7 innings.

Mohammed Shami surpassed the record of most wickets by an Indian in a single edition of the World Cup, going past Zaheer Khan's tally of 21 in 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Mohammed Shami played the next two matches, but was then dropped for the rest of the tournament.

Mohammed Shami was included in the side in 2014 tour of England, following the Test series, in July.

Mohammed Shami played in the lone match of the series and finished with 3 wickets conceding 38 runs.

Mohammed Shami returned to the squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 after spending more than two years recuperating from the shoulder injury, but due to lack of form and game time, he did not feature in any of the matches of the tournament.

Mohammed Shami was one of the three fast bowlers in the main squad, the other two being Jasprit Bumrah and the white-ball specialist, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Mohammed Shami was initially placed on stand-by for 2022 T20 World Cup, but after Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the tournament after sustaining a back injury he was named as Bumrah's replacement.

Mohammed Shami was signed by Kolkata Knight Riders, an Indian Premier League franchise, in 2011; Kolkata's head coach Dav Whatmore had worked with the Bengal Cricket Association and had identified Mohammed Shami, who had played Twenty20 matches for Bengal, as a player with potential.

Mohammed Shami played a single match for the side in the 2011 Champions League Twenty20, but despite being touted as a player likely to make an impact ahead of the 2012 tournament, he did not play in the IPL until 2013, making three appearances for Kolkata during the season.

Ahead of the 2014 season teams were allowed to retain a maximum of five players, and, following his international debut, Mohammed Shami was signed by Delhi Daredevils in the player auction.

Mohammed Shami played in 12 of Delhi's 14 matches during the season, taking seven wickets; he was retained but did not play a match the following season after being ruled out with a knee injury.

Mohammed Shami played sporadically in the IPL during the following three seasons, making eight appearances for Delhi in 2016 and 2017 and just four in 2018 when he was again hampered by a knee injury.

Mohammed Shami was purchased by Gujarat Titans, a newly formed franchise, for 6.25 crore from the marquee group of players.

Mohammed Shami took 20 wickets at an economy rate of 8.00 runs per over during the season as Gujarat won the league title in their first season.

Mohammed Shami set new career best T20 bowling figures in IPL 2023, taking his first four-wicket haul in the format against Delhi.

Mohammed Shami is a right-arm fast bowler who has the ability to move the ball off the seam and using swing, including reverse swing, to move the ball both ways.

Mohammed Shami's wicket taking ability and bowling reverse swing make him one of the lethal bowlers of the world and which is why he has been described as 'unplayable' at times regardless of the formats.

Mohammed Shami's wrist is firmly cocked at the point of delivery and his slightly split fingers come down so straight that the seam invariably comes out bolt upright.

Mohammed Shami now knows on which surface to pitch it up and on what track to bowl the good length.

Shami's father and his three brothers all played cricket, with one brother, Mohammed Kaif, making his List A debut for Bengal in 2021.

In 2020 Mohammed Shami spoke about the impact that injuries and a string of allegations made by his wife that have made on his mental health.

Mohammed Shami spoke of considering suicide on three occasions and credited his family with supporting him through the period.

In November 2023, Mohammed Shami rescued an accident victim on a hilly road near Nainital, earning the tag of 'Samaritan'.

Mohammed Shami was charged with offences relating to domestic violence, attempted murder, poisoning and criminal intimidation.

Mohammed Shami denied all of the allegations, stating that they were a conspiracy and had been made to distract him from cricket.

Mohammed Shami's wife claimed that Shami had been involved in match-fixing.

Mohammed Shami received the Arjuna Award from the President of India on 9 January 2024.