Mohammed Shami Ahmed Biography: Journey of Glory, Passion and Pure Pace

Mohammed Shami Ahmed Biography: Few fast bowlers combine seam precision and stamina as effectively as Mohammed Shami.

Whether in Test whites or under the lights in limited-overs cricket, Shami’s ability to hit the seam consistently makes him one of India’s most dependable match-winners.

Personal Overview

Early Life

Mohammed Shami Ahmed Biography: Shami was grown up in a village of Sahaspur in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh.

His father, Tauseef Ali was a farmer who had been a fast bowler in his youth.

When Shami was 15 he was taken to Badruddin Siddique, a cricket coach in Moradabad, a town quite far from his home.

Shami worked hard on his technique throughout his time at Moradabad.

After matches, he asked for the used balls so that he could develop the ability to reverse swing the older ball, a skill that would be helpful to his success later in his career.

However, selected for the Uttar Pradesh under-19 team, and later in 2005 Badruddin sent him to Kolkata to increase his chances of selection for a state team.

He was recommended to Debabrata Das, a former assistant secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal, who was impressed with Shami’s bowling and asked him to join his own club, Town Club.

Das took Shami, who had no place to stay in Kolkata, to live with him.

After bowling well for Town Club, Das asked one of the Bengal selectors, Sambaran Banerjee, to watch Shami bowl; Banerjee was impressed and selected him for the Bengal under-22 team.

Shami later joined Mohun Bagan Cricket Club, one of the best teams in Bengal, in order to be considered for selection to the full state team.

He bowled to former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly in the Eden Gardens nets; Ganguly recommended him to the state selectors and, soon afterwards, Shami was included in the Bengal squad for the 2010–11 Ranji Trophy.

Domestic Career

• Shami took four wickets on his senior debut for Bengal in a Twenty20 match in October 2010.
• The following month, he made his first-class cricket debut against Assam at Eden Gardens, taking three wickets in a high scoring match.
• In February 2012 his bowling helped East Zone win their first Duleep Trophy title; he took eight wickets in the match.
• During the 2012–13 Ranji Trophy, Shami took 11 wickets in a match against Madhya Pradesh in November, including seven wickets for 79 runs (7/79) in the first innings, a return which included a hat-trick.
• The following month he took 4/36 and 6/71 against Hyderabad on a green wicket at Eden Gardens, his second ten-wicket match in only his 15th first-class game.
• In the five Ranji Trophy matches he played during the season he took 28 wickets at a bowling average of 21.25 runs per wicket.
• In the 18 first-class matches he played before his Test match debut in 2013 he took 71 wickets, an average of four wickets each match.
• Since making his international debut in 2013, Shami has played only occasionally for his state team.

International Career

• Shami made his Test debut against West Indies in November 2013 in front of his home crowd at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
• Shami had little success on India’s 2014 tour of England, however, finishing with just five wickets in three matches.
• In 2018, he toured England with India, playing in all five Tests. He finished the series with 16 wickets.
• Shami played in the Test Championship final against New Zealand at The Rose Bowl in Southampton.
• He took four wickets in the first innings, but New Zealand won the match by 8 wickets.
• During the 2021–23 ICC World Test Championship, in the 2021 India-England series, on 16 August 2021, in India’s second innings.
• Shami made his highest score and second half-century in Test cricket, with an unbeaten score of 56* in a partnership with Jasprit Bumrah, which helped team India to script a historical win against England.
• During the first innings of the first Test of the India-South Africa 2021–22 Test series, Shami took 5 wickets for 44 runs and became the fifth Indian pacer to take 200 wickets in Test cricket.
• He made his One Day International(ODI) Debut on 6 January 2013.
• In India’s tour of New Zealand in 2014, Shami took 11 wickets in ODIs at an average of 28.72.
• He ended the 2014 Asia Cup with 9 wickets at 23.59.
• He was in the 15-man squad for 5 ODIs against Sri Lanka in November 2014, but he was replaced by Dhawal Kulkarni due to a toe injury he suffered during the West Indies series.
• Shami was in the 15-man squad named for the 2015 Cricket World Cup and was eventually included in the playing XI.
• He took 4 wickets for 35 runs from his 9 overs in India’s first match against Pakistan, helping India win the match.
• Against West Indies, he was awarded the Man of the Match.
• He finished the tournament with 17 wickets at an average of 17.29 and an economy rate of 4.81as the fourth leading wicket-taker.
• In June, after the conclusion of the tournament, Shami revealed that he bowled through a recurring pain in his left knee. He later underwent a surgery.
• For his performances in 2015, he was named in the World ODI XI by the ICC.
• Shami returned to the squad for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy after a two-year hiatus due to a shoulder injury.
• But due to lack of game time, he did not feature in any of the matches of the tournament.
• In January 2019, during the tour of New Zealand, Shami claimed his 100th ODI wicket in first of the five games by bowling Martin Guptill.
• He reached this milestone in his 56th match, an Indian record previously held by Irfan Pathan, who completed 100 ODI wickets in his 59th match.
• In April 2019, he was named in India’s squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup for his performances in the white ball cricket.
• He was one of the only three fast bowlers to feature in the squad, the other two being Jasprit Bumrah and the white ball specialist, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
• On 22 June 2019, in the match against Afghanistan, Shami took a hat-trick and became the ninth cricketer and the second Indian bowler after Chetan Sharma to claim a hat-trick in a World Cup match.
• On 30 June 2019, in the match against England, Shami took his first five-wicket haul in ODIs and became the first Indian bowler to take consecutive three four-wicket hauls in the World Cup.
• Against Afghanistan,West Indies and England.
• Shami was part of the three match ODI series between India and Australia in 2020, which team India eventually won by 2–1 margin.
• After going wicketless in the first match,he took 7 wickets in the next two matches and finished the series as the leading wicket-taker.
• Shami was included in India’s 15-man squad for the 2023 Asia Cup.
• He played his first match in this series against Nepal replacing Jasprit Bumrah.
• In September 2023, in the first ODI of Australia’s tour of India, ahead of the 2023 Cricket World Cup, Shami took 5/51 which was his best ODI return at that point.
• Benched during the first four matches of 2023 World Cup, Shami made his first appearance against New Zealand in Dharamshala and took 5/54 winning the Player of the Match award.
• His fifth wicket in this match was his 45th in World Cup matches, overtaking the Indian record of 44 previously held by Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath.
• Shami returned his best ODI figures with his 7/57 against New Zealand in the semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium on 15 November.
• He was again awarded the Player of the Match and became the first Indian bowler to reach 50 World Cup wickets (in 17 innings), and the first Indian bowler to claim a 7 wicket-haul in a World Cup match.
• Shami finished the World Cup as the leading wicket-taker with 24 wickets in 7 innings.
• He surpassed the record of most wickets by an Indian in a single edition of the World Cup, going past Zaheer Khan’s tally of 21 in the 2011 edition.
• Making his comeback after a long injury absence, and due to the injuries to Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj, Shami led the Indian bowling attack at the Champions Trophy.
• In the first group game against Bangladesh, Shami starred with figures of 5/53, in the process becoming the fastest bowler to 200 ODI Wickets and the highest wicket taking Indian bowler in ICC tournaments, surpassing Zaheer Khan.
• Shami made his debut in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) on 21 March 2014 against Pakistan in the opening match of the 2014 T20 World Cup and took the wicket of Umar Akmal.
• He played the next two matches,but was then dropped for the rest of the tournament.
• Shami returned to the squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 after spending more than two years recuperating from the shoulder injury, but due to lack of form and game time, he did not feature in any of the matches of the tournament.
• he was picked in the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for his performances in three consecutive Indian Premier League seasons.
• He was one of the three fast bowlers in the main squad, the other two being Jasprit Bumrah and the white-ball specialist, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
• Shami was initially placed on stand-by for 2022 T20 World Cup, but after Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the tournament after sustaining a back injury he was named as Bumrah’s replacement.
• Shami finished the tournament with 6 wickets.

IPL

• Shami was signed by Kolkata Knight Riders, an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, in 2011.
• Kolkata’s head coach Dav Whatmore had worked with the Bengal Cricket Association and had identified Shami.
• He did not play in the IPL until 2013, making three appearances for Kolkata during the season.
• Ahead of the 2014 season teams were allowed to retain a maximum of five players and was signed by Delhi Daredevils in the player auction.
• He played in 12 of Delhi’s 14 matches during the season, taking seven wickets.
• He was retained but did not play a match the following season after being ruled out with a knee injury.
• After being released by Delhi ahead of 2019 season Shami was bought by Kings XI Punjab in the 2019 player auction.
• Fit again, he and was the team’s leading wicket-taker against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium.
• He repeated the following season when he took 20 wickets, the best return of his career.
• During the season he allowed only five runs during a super over against Mumbai Indians, taking the match, which Punjab eventually won, into a second super over.
• This was the first time in IPL history that a single-digit score had been defended in a super over and earned Shami praise for the way in which he bowled precise yorkers under pressure.
• In the 2021 season, Shami took 19 wickets in 14 matches and finished as Punjab’s leading wicket-taker for the third straight season and as the fifth highest wicket-taker in that year’s competition.
• During the season he became the fourth bowler in franchise history to take 50 wickets for Punjab.
• Ahead of the 2022 IPL auction he was released by the team.
• He was purchased by Gujarat Titans, a newly formed franchise, for ₹6.25 crore from the marquee group of players.
• He took 20 wickets at an economy rate of 8.00 runs per over during the season as Gujarat won the league title in their first season.
• He set new career best T20 bowling figures in IPL 2023, taking his first four-wicket haul in the format against Delhi.
• The same season, he won the Purple Cap (leading wicket-taker) for the first time, with 28 wickets from 17 matches.
• Him being the leading wicket-taker in the powerplay in a season in the history of the league, taking 17 wickets in all during the phase.
• Shami did not play in IPL 2024 because he was recovering from ankle surgery after the World Cup and wasn’t fit to bowl in the tournament.
• Ahead of IPL 2025, Shami was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹10 crore at the IPL mega auction, joining the franchise as one of their top buys.
• Ahead of the 2026 IPL season, Shami was traded to Lucknow Super Giants from Sunrisers Hyderabad the franchise hoping his experience would strengthen their pace bowling.

Controversies

• In March 2018, a First Information Report was lodged against Shami and members of his family by his wife, Hasin Jahan, citing domestic violence and adultery.
• Shami was charged with offences relating to domestic violence, attempted murder, poisoning and criminal intimidation.
• Shami denied all of the allegations, stating that they were a conspiracy and had been made to distract him from cricket.
• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) withheld Shami from their national contracts list as a result of the allegations.
• His wife also claimed that Shami had been involved in match-fixing.
• This was investigated by the anti-corruption unit run by the BCCI and on 22 March the board reinstated Shami’s national contract, clearing him of the corruption charges.
• On 2 September 2019, a court in Alipore issued an arrest warrant against Shami in connection to the domestic violence charges, providing him with 15 days after his return to India to turn himself in.
• The warrant was stayed by a district court on 9 September because the court that had issued the warrant failed to issue a summons to appear in court after filing the charge sheet.
• In July 2025, the Calcutta High Court ordered Indian cricketer Mohammad Shami to pay ₹4 lakh per month in interim maintenance.
• ₹1.5 lakh to his estranged wife, Hasin Jahan, and ₹2.5 lakh to their daughter amid ongoing domestic violence proceedings.
• In October 2021, Shami, the only Muslim player in India’s team at the time, became victim to an online trolling campaign and was subjected to a range of abuse.
• It was Islamophobic on social media following India’s loss to Pakistan during the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
• He had conceded 43 runs during the match and was India’s most expensive bowler.
• Several current and former cricketers, including India’s then captain, Virat Kohli, publicly supported Shami following the abuse, with Kohli specifically addressing the Islamophobic nature of the abuse Shami had received.

Records

• During the ICC Cricket World Cup, Shami became the fastest Indian bowler to reach 50 ODI World Cup wickets, achieving the milestone in just 17 matches.
• In the 2023 World Cup, he picked up 24 wickets in just 7 matches, the highest by an Indian in a single edition.
• He took a hat-trick against Afghanistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup, becoming only the second Indian to take a World Cup hat-trick.
• Shami is among the few Indian fast bowlers to have taken 100 or more wickets in Tests, ODIs, and T20Is.
• He was honored with the Arjuna Award for his outstanding contribution to Indian cricket.

Fun and Interesting Facts

• Mohammed Shami Ahmed Biography: Shami is famous for his perfectly upright seam position. Many cricket experts consider it one of the best seam presentations in modern cricket, which is why he generates movement even on flat pitches.
• Shami has faced injuries and personal challenges throughout his career, but every time he has returned stronger.
• He is one of the few Indian bowlers to take a World Cup hat-trick (2019), putting his name in an elite club of Indian cricket history.
• Off the field, Shami is known for his passion for superbikes and luxury cars. He often shares glimpses of his collection on social media.
• Unlike some fast bowlers who focus on containment, Shami is an attacking bowler. His mindset is always to take wickets rather than just restrict runs.

Biography By: Nischay

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