Despite all the hype around star batter Virat Kohli on his birthday, Mohammed Shami is still the talk of the town after his historic picking of 14 wickets in three matches in the World Cup. 

Shreevats Goswami talked about his former Bengal teammate, Shami with The Indian Express and said, that when he went to meet his Under-19 teammate Virat Kohli for lunch on Saturday they incidentally talked about Shami. "Virat explained to me why Shami is so difficult to face. He said ‘Shami makes a subtle change with his fingers. It is easy to read Jasprit (Bumrah) but with Shami, you don’t know which ball is coming in and which is going away,” Goswami said.

Goswami, who has recently announced his retirement from first-class cricket further said, “Virat is true, also Shami is a menace to face in the nets. I remember after his first India call-up. He was training with us in an indoor facility at Eden. Dada (Sourav Ganguly) was also present there and Shami was strictly told by the coaches not to bowl bouncers. But Shami bhai will end up bowling a couple after every six or seven balls. I remember Dada was so excited that he later gave Shami the green light to bowl three bouncers in six balls.”

 Mohammad Shami made his first-class debut in 2010 under Manoj Tiwary. “The first time I saw him in the nets, there was a smile on my face. You suddenly feel like, oh we have got a real deal. My first impression was that he will play for India. He has been the kind of bowler, who will never hesitate to bowl bouncer in the nets. He is still the same. Generally, the newcomers used to be scared to bowl a bouncer against a senior batsman or the captain but not Shami. For him, he was preparing for the match,” said Tiwary reminiscing Shami bowl for the first time at the Eden Gardens in Bengal’s Ranji Trophy camp.

Tiwari further said that according to Shami, if batsmen are training for the match then bowlers will also do the same. A batsman will have to face bouncers in the match then they should in the nets as well.

Shami came to Kolkata in 2006-07 after he was overlooked for the Uttar Pradesh U-19 team. He used to play cricket at Dalhousie Athletic Club, and later, at the Town Club. Then he played for Mohun Bagan, for the last three-and-a-half seasons.

Mohun Bagan coach, Abdul Monayem said that it was not easy to convince Shami to join Mohun Bagan. Monayem was a good friend of Shami’s childhood coach, Mohammed Badruddin. He said in an interview with the Indian express, “Badr bhai always used to talk about Shami from the time he was 13 or 14. During a match against Town Club, I lured him to come and join Mohun Bagan. But he declined straightaway saying he can’t betray Debabratra Das, who back then was Town Club’s secretary (He is now CAB’s joint secretary).”

He further said, “Badr bhai convinced him that if he would play for Bagan, he would come on the radar of Bengal selectors. Badr bhai also played with his ego, saying he is happy taking wickets against lower-division teams. Within a year, he was part of the Bengal team and If i am not wrong, he was roped in by KKR in 2011."

Monayem believes that behind Shami's rise alongside his hard work, is the legendary Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram. He said that Akram worked a lot with Shami. “He had a very good wrist position but Wasim bhai worked on his release. He was not getting much game time for KKR, but he was always around Wasim.”

According to Tiwari, it is Shami's control on the length that made him the best Indian bowler in any condition. “His biggest strength in bowling is his control with the new ball. Shami should be the first pick, followed by Bumrah and Siraj. That new ball length, where batters don’t know whether to commit or whether to leave, only Shami has impeccable control on that length in the world," he said.

Goswami, who was Shami’s roommate when the bowler first came into the Bengal side, laughed and said, “At nets, he was a menace to face but of it, he was like a panda. He was always on his phone. He will have breakfast for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He was laid back, not too excited to train in the gym, used to sleep all the time, but you give him the ball in the match, and all of a sudden, we used to see a different Shami."