Mohammed Shami pleased with comeback, says Indian team should keep improving every day

Indian fast bowler Mohammed Shami feels he and his bowling partners need to keep the fire burning inside them if they have to succeed against strong opposition in the upcoming long home season for India. The Asian country will play as many as 13 Tests, 8 ODIs and 3 T20Is in the next 6 months.

In the recently concluded tour of West Indies, Shami was the best Indian pacer on the show with 14 scalps under his belt. The comeback man hit the right spots on the pitch and swung the ball both ways to unsettle the inexperienced Caribbean batting line-up.

For a bowler who was out from the Indian team for 18 months due to a career-threatening knee injury, it was truly a special effort by the Bengal pacer. Shami is being seen at the Eden indoor nets brushing up his skills prior to the New Zealand series to be Virat Kohli’s go to pacer in the upcoming series.

“I will bowl normally and do my best with the new ball. I will try to support the spinners. But if we bend our backs and get two three early wickets it will be helpful for the team,” Shami said while talking about his role on the slow low Indian wickets during an interaction with CAB Media Desk.

Speaking about Kohli’s faith on him as a bowler, Shami said, “It feels good if the captain has faith in you. It is [The West Indies tour] a comeback of sorts for me. For 18 months I was out of the side nursing the injury and rehabilitating. I am really happy that I was able to do the job for my team and captain.”

Meanwhile, Shami stressed on the fact that Indians need to continue working hard and keep the fire burning within them. “We need to keep the fire burning inside us. As a bowler, we need to be hungry for wickets as a batsman should be for runs. We must keep improving every day. I just want to keep doing my work with full dedication,” he said.

Talking about the strict regime he followed to recuperate from the knee injury Shami said it was the most difficult phase in his life but his wife was there to support him and help him recover from the injury.

“Knee injuries are tough as the whole body weight of a bowler is on his knees. The NCA training helped me a lot. It was a very difficult time. Only I know how focused I was on my rehab and training to get back in shape. I had to lose weight, fight fits of blue. But my wife stood by me like a rock,” he explained.

“When I went on the tour, I knew I did not have to do anything flashy. I just focussed on my swing, length, and line. I did not want to make errors there. I am lucky that I was able to force the batsmen to make mistakes,” Shami said of his bowling in the Caribbean and went on to add, “I had a plan. It was successful. I didn’t want to make too many changes to my bowling.”