The likes of Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan have etched their names in the history books for the kind of performances they put for India. While Kapil, an all-rounder in true sense, is among the legendary players of the nation, Zaheer, a left-arm pacer, was also superb with his skill set during his playing days. Come 2024 and Jasprit Bumrah has established himself as a modern day great in bowling. However, these three are not the only names, who have produced scintillating bowling performances for India. Former spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh alongside off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin are find their names in the list of India’s top performing bowlers.

However, when India pacer Mohammed Shami was asked to pick his “favourite bowler of all-time”, he named two greats, who are not from India.

“There are a lot of them. But if you are asking for names, then I like Waqar Younis and Dale Steyn more,” said Shami in a rapid-fire Question and Answer session on Star Sports.

What is #MohammedShami‘s nickname? Who does he enjoy bowling to?

Watch the star answer these Qs and more, on his birthday today!

Don’t forget to wish the Indian speedster a #happybirthday in the comments#Cricket #HappyBirthdayMohammedShami pic.twitter.com/NWjjyqyDWb

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) September 3, 2024

Indian all-format pace veteran Shami has stood up as the match-winner across all three formats by delivering numerous memorable performances and has been the national team’s go-to man in the ODI World Cups.

Ever since his memorable debut in international cricket back in 2013 — where he picked up nine scalps in Eden Gardens — Shami has made a name for himself with his pace, toe-crushing yorkers and ability to step up his game in big games.

Delivering match-winning performances through major ICC tournaments for India, particularly, the 50-over World Cups, despite battling injuries, the pacer has gained a massive following for himself.

He forms a formidable pace duo with Bumrah in all formats of the game.

With 448 international scalps in 188 games including 229 in Tests, 195 in ODIs and 24 in T20Is, Shami is one of the best modern-era pacers to have graced the sport.

(With ANI Inputs)

One of India’s finest bowlers in this generation, Mohammed Shami has delivered the goods for his country, no matter the format. Over the years, Shami has grown his status to the extent that he has become indispensable to the team, especially in Test and ODI formats. Yet, a few eyebrows were raised when Shami wasn’t part of India’s playing XI for the initial few matches in the ODI World Cup last year. However, as Shami got the nod in the team, following Hardik Pandya‘s injury, he ran riot with the ball, emerging as the tournament’s top wicket-taker.

Shami, asked about the situation in the tournament during the CEAT Cricket Awards recently, responded in hilarious fashion, saying he performed so well after getting picked that the captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid didn’t think again about dropping him.

“I’m habitual to it, I think,” Shami said when asked about his brilliant comebacks to the team after being sidelined initially.

“In 2015, 2019, and 2023, I had the same start. When I was given a chance, the performances, thanks to god, they never thought of dropping me again. You can call to hard work, but I’m always ready for a chance. Only when you’re ready can you prove yourself. Otherwise, I can only run to the field to give water! It’s better to seize the opportunity when you get it,” he further said.

Always ready, always hungry, always on top! #MohammedShami opens up on the drive that keeps him pushing forward, even after being benched in the early stages of the World Cup!

Watch the Full episode – CEAT Cricket Awards on YouTube channel pic.twitter.com/ZJOkfryXpt

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) September 2, 2024

Seeing Shami poke fun at Dravid and Rohit, the India coach and captain also couldn’t hold their laughter. Their reaction to Shami’s comments said it all.

Shami hasn’t featured for India since the conclusion of the ODI World Cup last year, with injury issues keeping him on the sidelines. He is expected to be fit in time for India’s Test assignment against Bangladesh which is scheduled to begin on September 19.

Team India in action© BCCI

As several senior India players prepare for the Duleep Trophy first round from September 5, one goal is clear from the squad selection process by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI): the need for fast bowlers. India’s lead crop, headlined by Jasprit Bumrah and ably supported by Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, may be one of the finest in the world. But with Bumrah frequently rested, Shami yet to regain fitness and Siraj sometimes blowing hot and cold, the BCCI are aiming to develop a crop capable of taking over from the lead act.

The BCCI elected more than 20 pacers across the four squads for the Duleep Trophy. Several of the lot are uncapped at the international level, while some others have barely a few India matches to their name.

“It’s a question of identifying the right ones and giving them opportunities to be ready for the Australian trip. There are lots of bowlers who hit 140-150 kph in the IPL. So it is about nurturing and giving them the right exposure,” said former India bowling coach Bharat Arun, speaking to The Indian Express.

While the likes of Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna and Akash Deep have been tried, none of them have reached even 30 international matches across all formats. Even Arshdeep Singh has not been fancied for the longer format. Arun emphasised the importance of the Duleep Trophy.

“Red ball cricket is something these bowlers must get used to. We have time but we need to prepare by giving them enough overs under their belt.

“Bowling in first-class cricket, you bowl on unresponsive pitches. You have to come out with some guile or you would need to learn how to reverse the ball because of the conditions that exist in our country. I think it helped Siraj and Shami a great deal,” Arun added.

Another former India bowling coach, Paras Mhambrey, downplayed the importance of performing in the IPL in order to judge a bowler’s skill. Notably, the likes of Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Yash Dayal and Vijaykumar Vyshak are all in the Duleep Trophy lineups, but arguably thanks to their IPL form. Mhambrey took the example of Umran Malik to reiterate his point.

“Umran is a classic case of who has not played enough red-ball cricket. He came to the reckoning through the IPL. That’s 24 balls in a game. The amount of pressure of bowling 24 balls is not like the red ball. I feel this (T20) is not a format to judge a prospect,” said Mhambrey to The Indian Express.

Full list of fast bowlers and pace-bowling all-rounders selected for Duleep Trophy first round:

Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Umran Malik, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Anshul Kamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Aditya Thakare, Akash Sengupta, Navdeep Saini, Mohit Avasthi, Sandeep Warrier, Gaurav Yadav, Shivam Dube, Nitish Reddy

India’s ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma is always expressive on the ground. Rarely, one would find the skipper controlling his emotions when leading the side. Be it the anger, laugh or frustration, Rohit never shies away from putting his emotions out, even if his expressions become a meme material or a topic of talk. Speaking about that behaviour of Rohit, his teammate Mohammed Shami opened up and said when one fails to meet the captain’s expectations, he starts showing his emotions.

“The best thing about Rohit is that he gives you freedom. Agar aap uske hisaab se sahi nahi utre, to unke thode se reaction bahar aane lagte hain. Wo aapko bateyga ki aapko ye karna tha, ya ye chaiye tha. Fir bhi aap uspe khare nahi utre, toh fir jo hum screen pe jo reactions dekhte hain, jo hum bina bole samajh jaate hain na, wo aane lagta hai. (However, if you don’t meet his expectations, his reactions start to show a bit. He’ll tell you that you should have done this or needed to do that. But if you still don’t live up to it, then the reactions we see on the screen, the ones we understand without him saying anything, start to come out),” Shami said during Ceat Cricket Rating Awards.

Meanwhile, Rohit said, “I keep asking them to be themselves on the field. For that, first, I have to be myself… and that’s how I am!”

Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Shami talking about their captain Rohit Sharma.

The Captain, the leader, the legend @ImRo45pic.twitter.com/DmXJ7YaegC

— (@rushiii_12) August 21, 2024

While Rohit continues to lead the Indian team in the ODI and Test formats, Shami is sidelined due to an ankle surgery. He is undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy. The pacer is expected to make a comeback to competitive cricket for his domestic side Bengal in the Ranji Trophy, and a potential international appearance later in one of the Test matches against New Zealand.

CEAT Cricket Rating Awards ceremony was held in Mumbai on Wednesday to celebrate the remarkable achievements of cricketing legends. India skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday won the CEAT Men’s International Cricketer of the Year award after he helped the Men in Blue win the T20 World Cup 2024 in July. Rohit has added 14,846 runs, three double hundreds, 33 hundreds, and 87 fifties in ODIs and T20Is combined. Apart from his mouth-watering tally, Rohit is a two-time ICC T20 World Cup (2007 and 2024) and ICC Champions Trophy winner. He also holds the record for most sixes in the shortest format.

Here’s a look at India’s top winners at the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards:

India skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday won the CEAT Men’s International Cricketer of the Year award after he helped the Men in Blue win the T20 World Cup 2024 in July.

Rohit’s stint as India’s T20I skipper was a memorable one. He overtook Dhoni as the most successful T20I captain with 49 wins in 62 matches. Dhoni had 41 victories from 72 games. Also to top it off, he led India to the ICC T20 World Cup title after a thrilling win in the final against South Africa at Barbados, ending India’s ICC trophy drought of 11 years.

Youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal won the best Test batter of the year in the CEAT Awards on Wednesday following his scintillating performance in the series against England.

In England’s recent tour of India, Jaiswal was the highest run scorer of the series after scoring 712 runs from 5 matches and 9 innings at a strike rate of 79.91.

The 22-year-old made his Test debut against West Indies in 2023. In the long format, he has scored 1028 runs at a strike rate of 70.07 after playing 9 matches and 16 innings.

Meanwhile, India pacer Mohammad Shami won the best ODI bowler of the year in the CEAT Awards.

Shami was the highest wicket-taker in the ODI World Cup 2023, picking up 24 wickets in just seven matches at an economy rate of 5.26.

The last few years have not been great for Shami as he spent most of the time suffering from injuries. The 33-year-old made his ODI debut in 2013 against Pakistan and picked up 195 wickets from 101 matches.

On the other hand, talisman India batter Virat Kohli on Wednesday won the best ODI batter of the year during the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards.

Kohli made his ODI debut in 2008 against Sri Lanka. Following this he has scored 13906 runs after playing 295 matches and 283 innings at a strike rate of 93.54.

In the ODI World Cup 2023, Kohli was the highest run scorer, scoring 765 runs from 11 matches at a strike rate of 90.31. During the 50-over WC, Kohli also became the first player to hit fifty ODI tons.

The last few months have been great for the Men in Blue after they successfully ended the ICC trophy drought of 11 years by winning the prestigious T20 World Cup 2024.

Former India head coach Rahul Dravid was named the CEAT Lifetime Achievement Award. His stint with the Men in Blue came to an end after India won the T20 World Cup 2024 in July.

Ravichandran Ashwin won the CEAT Men’s Test Bowler of the Year. Just like Jaiswal, Ashwin displayed a stunning performance during England’s tour of India with the ball. Ashwin was the highest wicket-taker with 26 dismissals by his name from the five matches.

Ashwin made his Test debut in 2011 against West Indies. Following this, he has scalped 516 wickets from 100 matches and 189 innings.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer won the Memento for Outstanding Leadership for TATA IPL. He helped KKR win their third IPL title in the previous season of the tournament.

Recapping the final match of the T20 World Cup 2024, Virat Kohli (76), Hardik Pandya (3/20) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/18) starred in Men in Blue’s seven-run win over South Africa in the final at Barbados on June 29.

Virat’s masterclass knock helped India reach 176/7 in 20 overs, while Bumrah and Pandya unleashed a pace choke on Proteas, snatching the match from a losing position to restrict Proteas to 169/8 in their 20 overs.

File photo of Indian cricket team star bowler Mohammed Shami© Twitter

Mohammed Shami in action© AFP

Former South Africa pace great Morne Morkel has been roped in as the Indian cricket team’s new bowling coach, BCCI secretary Jay Shah told PTI on Wednesday, completing the appointment of new head coach Gautam Gambhir‘s preferred support staff. It is understood that the 39-year-old, who replaces Paras Mhambrey, will take over as the bowling coach from the Bangladesh series that starts with the opening Test in Chennai from September 19. He has been appointed till the end of the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa.

“Yes, Morne Morkel has been appointed bowling coach of the senior India men’s team,” Shah told PTI.

The other members of Gambhir’s support staff are assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, and fielding coach Ryan Ten Doeschate.

Morkel was also Gambhir’s preferred choice, having worked with him at Lucknow Super Giants during the Indian’s two IPL seasons as mentor of the franchise.

Morkel has played 86 Tests, 117 ODIs and 44 T20Is for South Africa with a total of 544 international wickets.

He will be reporting in Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy at the start of next month and is expected to watch the Duleep Trophy games. Once there, he will also touch base with VVS Laxman and head of bowling in NCA, Troy Cooley.

According to sources, Morkel was directly appointed on Gambhir’s recommendation ahead of other options like Lakshmipathy Balaji and R Vinay Kumar.

“The Cricket Advisory Committee’s (CAC) mandate was to interview the candidates for the head coach. When it came to choice of support staff, it was imperative that Gambhir’s choice prevailed. He has worked with Morne and thinks of him highly as a bowling coach,” a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

“Also with the big series against Australia coming up Down Under from last week of November, there isn’t a better choice than the South African, who has himself enjoyed fair bit of success over there. Also there will be the five-Test tour of England next year with a potential sixth match if India reach WTC final.” It is understood that Balaji and Vinay’s names weren’t considered once it was clear that Morkel would carry forward the good work done by Mhambrey.

One half of the famous fast bowling duo that featured Dale Steyn, Morkel is a cricketing heavyweight and has also played quite a lot in India to have a fair idea about the conditions.

Also, his stint in the IPL has allowed him to have a ringside view of India’s next crop of fast bowlers including the most exciting of them all — Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan and Yash Thakur to name a few.

A lot of observers believe that Morkel worked quite a lot with Mayank during the past two seasons of IPL even though he remained injured for the better part.

Morkel’s biggest challenge will be to handle the transition phase as Mohammed Shami enters the business end of his illustrious career and Jasprit Bumrah needs more potent support apart from Mohammed Siraj, especially in red-ball cricket.

Morkel had last year worked with the Pakistan team till the end of the ODI World Cup and quit before his contract expired.

India have never had any spin bowling coach as such although former director Ravi Shastri was a distinguished left-arm spinner in his playing days. Sairaj Bahutule, who is a part of Laxman’s team at the NCA, has travelled on and off with the senior team.

India pacer Mohammed Shami is eyeing a comeback into the Indian team after being out of action since November 2023 due to an injury. Shami last played for India during the 2023 ODI World Cup final against Australia, which the Rohit Sharma-led side lost. Since then, he has been nursing an ankle injury, which has kept him out of action for the entirety of 2023. Shami played the ODI World Cup despite carrying an injury, but emerged as the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 24 scalps in seven matches.

Now, after missing major events like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the T20 World Cup, which India won in his absence, Shami was has began his preparations to get upto full speed.

In a recent interaction, Shami’s friend Umesh Kumar opened up on the pacer’s diet and spilled the beans on his love for mutton.

“Shami can bear everything, but Shami cannot survive without mutton. He can tolerate it for one day, you will see him agitated on the second day, and will lose his mind on the third. If he (Shami) doesn’t eat 1kg mutton daily, his bowling speed will reduce by upto 15 kmph,” Umesh said on Shubhankar Mishra‘s YouTube channel.

Meanwhile, the pacer was seen bowling in the nets in full throttle recently.

India chief selector Ajit Agarkar recently hoped that Shami will be able to recover in time for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh, starting September 19.

“We more or less know who the guys are, there are some injuries at the moment and hope they will be back. Shami has started to bowl, which is a good sign. September 19 is the first Test (against Bangladesh) and that was always the goal. I don’t know if that is his timeline for recovery, will have to ask the guys at the NCA about that,” Agarkar said in the press conference.

Agarkar also stated that the selection committee will be keeping an eye on first-class cricket, in order to add more players in the Test team.

“There are so many Tests coming. We will need some depth. Bumrah, Shami, and Siraj have been around for a while, these are the obvious ones. But there will be some conversation around it. Got a lot of first-class cricket coming up so we can build guys up like that,” said Agarkar.