XtraTime Web Desk: Indian cricket team’s star pacer Mohammed Shami took two crucial wickets on day 1 against England of the first Test to put his side on a commanding position. But his comeback to the Indian team was not that easy. After a successful South Africa tour he had to face a lot of personal problems as his wife alleged him for extramarital affairs with other women which forced him to stay away from cricket for quite some time. Not only had that but her wife Hasin Jahan also brought match fixing allegations against him as well. After a lot of struggle the BCCI gave him clean sheet from match fixing allegations and finally he got a call up again from the Indian national team for the England tour. Shami today revealed that the effort of making a return was not that easy but he kept fought hard for his love for cricket.
“South Africa was a long time ago and there have been some off field issues after that. I had to fight a lot in between but my effort was that I have to keep doing what I love most and what is most important to me (cricket), I wanted to just keep doing my job and then see what happens to the rest of the stuff in my life. Whatever difficulties I face, first I wanted to play cricket and keep doing it, and the result is in front of us,” said Shami at the post day 1 press conference.
Ahead of the Afghanistan Test in Bengaluru Shami failed the fitness test and he was not picked in the playing XI as well. As per Shami he wasn’t scared after that as post injury he worked really hard at the NCA. Though he was not playing matches but he kept working at the nets and recovered from his injury.
“As injuries happen, we do rehab and work in the NCA and put in the hard work. The only difference is that we don’t play matches but we are continuously working in the nets, getting treatment and recovering. We plan according to what series we are going to play, depending on conditions and opposition, we prepare and move ahead,” added Shami.
On being asked about Ravichandran Ashwin’s brilliant spell on day 1 against England, Shami said,”He bowled very well today, as a bowling unit on English wickets you see that fast bowlers bowl well, but in between that, a spinner has come and done so well, he built partnerships with the fast bowlers and it helps take our confidence up as well. Overall, the fast bowlers bowled well too, and we combined well with him. We didn’t miss the second spinner because we paired up so well as we had experience on our side and you can see that even if we are not able to take wickets but are able to stop runs. So Ashwin bowled well from one end, while runs were stopped from the other end to create pressure and the wickets came in the end.”