Revision as of 01:09, 10 March 2018

Early life

The Times of India

Mar 20 2015

THE MAKING OF THE INDIAN SPEARHEAD

Avijit Ghosh

Amroha (UP)

The lean middle-aged gentleman who was the father of Mohd Shami, had come with his teenage son on a summer evening and told the coach, “My son can bowl really fast. He terrorizes batsmen in his village. I want you to coach him.” It wasn't an unusual request. Over the years Badruddin Siddiqui, the coach at Moradabad's Subhash Chandra Bose stadium, would find shopkeepers and babus, farmers and cops -rough and ready men of western UP -approaching him with similar requests. They all believed their sons were special, the next Tendulkar or Brett Lee, possibly even better.

Badruddin looked at the lad. For his age, a callow 14-15, he looked built to last. He was wearing a T-shirt, track pants and sneakers. “Where's your all-white kit?“ the coach asked. “I don't have one,“ the boy replied. “I'll buy it soon.“

Badruddin asked him to bowl. The teenager didn't measure his run-up. He just trudged 20-22 steps, hurtled in and bowled. “The first ball was wide but pretty sharp,“ recalls the coach. “Several wides followed before he got one on the mark. But every ball he bowled for the next 30 minutes was of the same high speed. Usme jaan thi.“ “Fast bowler mein aur kuchch ho na ho jaan to honi hi chahiye. I told him he would have to practice at least six hours every day. He replied he would practice even more.“ Before leaving, the youngster gave his name: Mohammed Shami. “Shami broke one of the stumps with one of his deliveries on the day he first bowled in front of the man who would become his coach, Badruddin,“ recalls the speedster's father, Tauseef Ahmed, a well-heeled farmer with 22 acres of land where mango and guava orchards grow in Amroha district's Sahaspur village, about 20 km from the ground. Ironically , neither Badruddin nor Tauseef are sure of the year. It was 2004 or may be 2005. For the next few days, Shami was just asked to run, exercise, get fitter. Many kids get impatient at this stage, says the coach. But Shami was different. He followed the drill to the D. “He stood out immediately for his work ethic,“ says Badruddin, who in his playing days was “a medium pacer who could also bat“.

Much before IPL, Moradabad had its own 20-over league. Two teams would be set up from the boys who trained at the stadium. The coach named Shami in one of them. He failed in the first game but took five wickets in the next.

Badruddin remembers two attributes of his most famous ward. “Even those days, Shami had a decent in-cutter.And after a match ended, he would ask for the old balls.“ Shami was addicted to shining one side of an old ball. Even while walking in the bylanes of his village Sahaspur, he would toss the ball in the air. “He had a certain junoon, a madness, about him,“ says Badruddin.

A year later, the coach decided to take him for the Uttar Pradesh under-19 trials in Kanpur. “Shami made it to the final round. But in the end, the selectors patted him on the back and said, `work hard and come back next year',“ recalls Badruddin. “Shami was absolutely gutted.I was about 20 meters away . It seemed like a mile for him. He could hardly walk.When we came back to Moradabad, he didn't come to practice for 3-4 days. I had to counsel him, make him aware that the road to success isn't exactly strewn with roses,“ says Badruddin.

Shami started playing again. “That's when I got a call from Dalhousie Athletic Club, Kolkata. They needed a fast bowler.I spoke to his father. He said, `how can I send him so far?' I told him, `if he becomes a top cricketer, he will be playing away from home anyway'.“

Shami's rise in Kolkata has been well chronicled. What's little known is that Sourav Ganguly provided critical help at this stage. “Shami got selected for Bengal's under-22 squad but never got to play .One day , Dada asked for some net bowlers. After playing Shami's first ball, Dada asked him, `where do you play?' When he said he was among the reserves in the u-22 team, Ganguly was shocked. After the nets, he spoke to Shami for about 30 minutes. He must have called some people in CAB because after that Shami got to play in U-22. He got five wickets. It was a turning point for him,“ says Tauseef.

Since those early days, Shami has improved beyond recognition. But the fast bowler has also brought a fundamental change in the life of his coach. He laughs, “Now most of my new students are wannabe pacemen. Shami ko coach karke fast bowler ke coach ka stamp lag gaya.“

Family life

Freeze in contract because of domestic troubles

March 8, 2018: The Times of India

HIGHLIGHTS

Delhi Daredevils are keeping a close tab on the Mohammed Shami controversy

Top Daredevils officials are set to meet BCCI brass to take a stock of the situation

Daredevils are now waiting for BCCI's legal opinion about whether they should allow the pacer to join their camp

Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Daredevils are keeping a close tab on the Mohammed Shami controversy as the top officials are set to meet BCCI brass to take a stock of the situation after his wife Hasin Jahan filed a police complaint accusing him of domestic violence and adultery.

Shami has been embroiled in a massive controversy after his wife Jahan in series of Facebook posts alleged the fast bowler of various transgressions in personal life

The BCCI has already withheld Shami's central contract as the police may start its inquiry on allegations of domestic violence. Daredevils are now waiting for BCCI's legal opinion about whether they should allow the Bengal speedster to join their camp, which will start at the end of the month.

"Look Daredevils management can't take any unilateral decision in this matter. All players who play in the IPL have a tripartite contract involving the franchise, BCCI and the player. Yes, we are well aware about the sensitive situation and we are having discussions with top BCCI officials. There is a clause about any player bringing disrepute but it is for the lawyers to interpret it," a senior franchise official said on Friday.

The Indian Premier League involves big business houses and they are extremely aware about their image. The GMR group had just entered into a 50:50 partnership with JSW group -- owners of India's top football club Bengaluru FC.

Company's image is paramount for any franchise and Delhi Daredevils is no exception in this regard. "In these sensitive times, when people are raising their voice against domestic abuse and violence, unless Shami comes out clean, the franchise's image will also take a beating. If Delhi Daredevils are worried, they certainly have reasons to do so. They have created a brand and would be protective about that," a senior BCCI official said.

There were however mixed reactions in BCCI as some officials felt that COA chief Vinod Rai could have waited for the police inquiry to get over and charges levelled against Shami being proved before his central contract is being withheld.

There is a possibility that acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary, treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry along with CEO Rahul Johri discuss the Shami issue on the sidelines of the captain's conclave in Mumbai on March 12.