India pacer Mohammed Shami – a notable absentee in India’s squad for the recently concluded 2024 T20 World Cup – has conceded that missing out on the team owing to an injury is another adversity that is bound to make him stronger and that his big dream is still to win a World Championship for India.
When asked if he felt that he deserved a winner’s medal around his neck for his contributions to Indian cricket – including a stellar 24 wicket haul from seven games at last year’s World Cup – Shami told Shubhankar Mishra on his YouTube channel, “I believe that whoever took part in that competition, whoever was part of the team, deserved to win it.
“If I’m unfit today and sitting at home, I can only watch the sport as a fan. Those players are my friends and colleagues, I can only let them know what I feel from the outside to help them play better. There isn’t much in our hands. As far as the winners medal is concerned, I also dream to win the World Cup,” he added.
Missing out on the recent triumph, Shami believes, will only make him stronger. “I’ve never run away from situations, nor have I taken an easy way out of things. The more adversities I face, the stronger I become. I have more clarity. You look at 2015, I had most wickets. In 2019, I was the best performer. Same in 2023. Whenever I will get the opportunity, I will give my 100 percent.”
Shami was the leading wicket taker of last year’s ODI World Cup that saw India being bested by Australia in the final, after an 11-game unbeaten run to the summit clash.
India’s Mohammed Shami celebrates the wicket of New Zealand’s Tom Latham during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup first semifinal match between India and New Zealand in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
The 33-year-old admitted that as he was watching the recent T20 World Cup final – with South Africa needing 30 runs to win from as many deliveries – he felt the same eerie feeling that he did in Ahmedabad as the game slipped away from India’s hands.
I’d felt the same watching this World Cup. I was feeling the same watching it from the outside, as I was on the ground that day. In 2023, when we won 10 games in a row, all the teams were thinking how to beat India. When that happens, we should pray. When you make a mountain out of a molehill that sows doubts and overconfidence. I think the boys showed great patience this time around,” Shami said.
Casting his mind back to the final against Australia last year, Shami believes that despite a sub-par total on the board, not many saw India losing the final until the Travis Head-Marnus Labuschagne partnership started taking roots. “Even in 2023, you wouldn’t have heard anyone say that India will lose. When we had 80 runs in the first 10 overs, the feeling (of invincibility) was the same as it was when we had nabbed three wickets in the beginning. There were no doubts on if India are winning the World Cup or not. But then luck…jo naseeb mai hai uske aage aap jaa hi nahi sakte (you can’t go against what’s been written).”
The pacer, who has been out of action since the ODI World Cup last year, also updated on his fitness. ‘I’m feeling better now. I’m able to train better now. The pain has started to subside. But when you start giving your body load, the stiffness begins to take over. But one gets used to it over time. I’m starting to get back on the track. I hope (the comeback) is soon.”
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