The Indian cricket team defeated New Zealand with a 70-run win in the ICC World Cup 2023 semi-final on Wednesday. Mohammed Shami emerged as the star of the win and recorded the best-ever wicket taken by an Indian bowler in World Cup history. He took seven wickets and took India to the finals. Meanwhile, the bowler’s old remarks about giving up on cricket have resurfaced on the internet. According to bowling coach Bharat Arun, the 33-year-old bowler wanted to quit the sport in 2018 ahead of India’s tour of England.
Mr. Arun said Shami was going through a tough phase in his career, struggling with injuries and personal life. Therefore, she was affected “mentally”. “We had a fitness test just before the 2018 England tour and Shami failed. He lost his place in the India team. He called me and said he wanted to talk to me. So I invited him to my room; he was going through a personal turmoil. His fitness was affected, he was mentally gone. He came to me and said, ‘Very much. I am angry and want to quit cricket.’ I immediately took Shami to meet Ravi Shastri,” he said. cricbuzz.
He continued: “We both went up to his room and I said, ‘Ravi, Shami wants to say something.’ Ravi asked what it was and Shami told him the same thing: ‘I don’t want to play cricket’. We both said, ‘What will you do if you don’t play cricket?’ we asked. What else do you know? You know how to bowl when the ball is given,” the coach added.
The duo then decided to send Shami to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, which improved his fitness. Mr. Arun added, “So Ravi said: ‘It’s good that you’re angry. This is the best thing that ever happened to him because he has a ball in his hand. Your condition is poor. Whatever anger you have inside you, get it out of your body. We will send you to the National Cricket Academy and we want you to go there and stay there for 4 weeks. You won’t go home and you’ll just go to NCA.
According to him, the situation worked in the bowler’s favor because “there was an issue of going to Kolkata”. He spent five weeks in Bengaluru and worked on his body. “I still remember the call he made to me and saying, ‘Sir, I’m like a stallion.’ Make me run as much as you want.” During the 5 weeks he spent there, he realized what working on fitness could do for him,” said Mr. Arun.
Meanwhile, in the semi-final, Shami took seven wickets in 57 runs off 9.5 overs at an economy rate of 5.79. His bowling figures are also the fifth best in World Cup history; Australia’s Glenn McGrath’s best was 7/15 against Namibia in 2003. The veteran also completed 50 World Cup wickets, becoming only the seventh bowler to do so.
news source (www.thekashmirmonitor.net)
