He said he wanted to quit cricket. So Ravi said, ‘It’s good that you’re angry’: Bharat Arun on the conversation that helped Shami bounce back after being dropped
India pounced on Australia from the word go in the first of four Tests of the 2023 Border Gavaskar Trophy. And it all began with Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami reducing the visitors to 2/2 early on day one. Shami went on to pick two more wickets in the second innings of a Test that saw the Indian spinners rule the roost with 16 wickets across the two innings.
In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, Shami has donned the role of the leader of the pace attack across formats. Earlier this year, having picked a three wicket haul against New Zealand in Raipur in what was a player of the match performance, Shami had stated, “My role hasn’t changed since I have come into the team (laughs). The only thing is to keep working on the fitness and diet.”
However, back in 2018, it was his fitness that had led to the right arm quick losing his place in India’s XI. A stage in his career when Shami had made up his mind to quit the game of cricket. Former India bowling coach Bharat Arun recently elucidated the same.
“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 that ‘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.
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.”
The conversation and the weeks spent at the NCA proved to be decisive as Shami found his way back in the Indian lineup and was the second leading wicket taker on the 2018 tour of England across the five Tests, picking 16 scalps to his name. Later that year, he also notched 16 wickets during the four-match Test series in Australia.
Shami’s bowling average in Tests also decreased post his comeback. While in the 30 Tests prior to the incident, Shami averaged 28.90, in the 31 after his bowling average dropped down to 25.52.
