Indian speedster Mohammed Shami has travelled a long way since making his debut for the country, especially in Test cricket. He has built his image as the crucial part of Indian bowling line-up. The right-armer debuted when MS Dhoni was the captain and has played a lot of games under the latter’s leadership. The Amroha-born paceman shared quite a few memorable moments with Dhoni, but there was one incident where the ‘Captain Cool’ had lost his patience on Shami.
During an Instagram live chat session with Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary, Shami recalled one such episode where Dhoni rebuked him for an unnecessary bouncer which came out of frustration from the pacer. It all happened during a Test match between India and New Zealand in 2014 where Brendon McCullum demolished Indian bowling unit and scored a magnificent triple century.
During the chat, Shami revealed how Virat Kohli dropped the catch of McCullum when he was on just 14. Shami said that after Kohli’s dropped catch the team thought they could get him (McCullum), but that couldn’t happen, and ‘Baz’ went on to reach the triple-figure.
“After McCullum was dropped on 14, on that day we thought, it’s alright; we will send him back soon. Then he batted till lunch again the next day. He continued till tea and the day was about to end, so I asked Virat why did you drop him,” Shami told Tiwary.
Shami then reminisced how yet another catch was not taken of the other batsman, which left him irritated before the lunch. The 29-year-old expressed that he ran in fast and out of anger bowled a bouncer which went over Dhoni’s head. Shami stated that Dhoni wasn’t impressed with his behaviour at all and gave me a lesson.
“McCullum then went on to score 300. On that day before lunch, another batsman edged one, and he was dropped again. So out of frustration, I ran in and bowled a bouncer on the final delivery before lunch was called, the ball went over Mahi’s bhai’s head. As we were heading towards the dressing room for Lunch, Mahi bhai came to me and said I know the catch was dropped, but you should have bowled the last ball properly. I told him, the ball slipped out of my hands,” added Shami.
“Mahi bhai ne mujhe thode se tight language mein bola, ‘Dekh beta, bohot log aaye mere saamne. Bohot log khel ke chale gaye jhut mat bol.’ He said in a different way, but it was with a bit of aggression. He further said, ‘Bete tumhare senior hain tumhare captain hain hum. Ye bewakoof kisi aur ko banana (Mahi bhai said strictly, I have seen a lot of players come and go, don’t lie to me. He further said, don’t try to fool your captain)” Shami added further.
During that match, India had wrapped up Kiwi’s first innings for 192 and made 438 runs in reply. In the second innings, the Black Caps made a comeback and posted humongous 680/8d and gave India a target of 435 runs. In response, the visitors scored 166/3, and the match ended in a draw.
