One of the cornerstones of the Indian bowling assault over the past ten years has been Mohammad Shami. He has been tormenting Australian batsmen while competing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The 32-year-old pacer has taken 219 wickets in 61 Test matches so far. Additionally, he has 24 kills in 23 T20Is and 159 wickets in 87 ODIs. Shami began his professional life in January 2013. But in the beginning of his career, he frequently battled injuries. On one such occasion, former India coaches Ravi Shastri and Bharat Arun prevented him from quitting the game.
“Just before the 2018 tour of England, we had a fitness test and Shami had failed it. He lost his place in the Indian team. He called me and said he wanted to have a word with me. So I invited him to my room; he was going through a personal turmoil. His fitness was affected, mentally he was gone. He came to me and said ‘I am very angry and I want to quit cricket’. I immediately took Shami to meet Ravi Shastri. 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’. Both of us asked ‘What will you do if not play cricket?’ What else do you know? You know how to bowl when given the ball,” Arun told Cricbuzz.
Shastri sent him to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, Arun continued. The instructor continued, “That choice altered the bowler.” He further added, “So Ravi said ‘It’s good that you’re angry. This is the best thing that has happened to you because you have a ball in hand. Your fitness is poor. Whatever anger it is that you have, take it out on your body. We are going to send you to National Cricket Academy and want you to go there for 4 weeks and stay there. You will not go home, and only head to NCA. It suited Shami also because he had a problem going to Kolkata then so he spent 5 weeks at the NCA. I still remember the call he made and told me ‘Sir, I have become like a stallion. Make me run as much as you want’. The 5 weeks that he spent there, he realised what working on fitness can do to him.”