“We kept around ten wet balls and he used to bowl non-stop”: Mohammed Shami practised nailing yorkers with wet ball under lights before T20 World Cup selection, reveals coach

Despite perhaps not expecting it in a manner he would have liked, team India’s experienced fast bowler Mohammed Shami will not complain as long as he keeps getting an opportunity to prove his worth.

The hard-working, 32-year-old pacer was not considered to even feature in a single T20I for India post his ordinary outing during the T20 World Cup last year in UAE.

The likes of Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh et al were rewarded for their for the impressive performances in the IPL this year, but Shami somehow did not fit into team India’s plans for the squad formation ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022.

But he made sure he had the self-belief and continued to have his head down while putting in the hard yards with his training routine at the NCA or at his farm in the remote village of Uttar Pradesh, despite getting the news of his non-selection in India’s T20 World Cup squad.

Ultimately, despite at the cost of Jasprit Bumrah’s back injury, the Bengal pacer had to be considered to bowl at the lively pitches in Australia, with all the experience by his side.

Mohammed Shami practised nailing yorkers with wet ball despite non-selection in India’s T20 World Cup squad

Mohammed Shami’s coach Mohammad Badruddin, during an interaction with ‘The Indian Express‘ revealed how Shami, despite being angry for not being picked for the ongoing World Cup squad initially, made sure to master the art of bowling yorkers with the wet ball, and under lights.

He used to practise the same at the farm in his village named Sahaspur Alinagar, located in the Jyotiba Phule Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh.

It is at this very farm, where the right-arm pacer used to call his coach Badruddin, with the latter helping him out with his training sessions on the pitches under the floodlights.

“We kept around ten wet balls and he used to bowl non-stop. Wet ball is hard to grip, it’s where skills come handy. Shami must on an average used to bowl hundred odd balls daily to perfect his art,” remarked Badruddin during an interaction with The Indian Express.

Shami’s coach further revealed that he (Shami) has a few acres of land in his village, and during non-crop growing days he used to run on them for hours, as he does not quite believe in gym training.

The results are there to see. While Shami might have picked only four wickets across four innings so far in the World Cup, his economy rate of 6.00 runs per Over is the second-best in the team after Bhuvneshwar Kumar (5.78 rpo).