India’s spearhead Mohammed Shami is having a great time in the ICC World Cup 2015. In the 5 matches India have played till now, Shami has been the team’s leading wicket-taker with 12 scalps. On the eve of India’s last Pool B match against Zimbabwe, Shami credited Dhoni for his success and expressed that he feels a certain degree of comfort playing under him.
Shami said:
“I like the way he (Dhoni) handles the team and handles me as a bowler as I have made my debut under him across all formats. I am always free and I have never been tensed when he has captained the side.
“He is not someone, who demands certain things from me. He is someone who has always told me about my mistakes and asked me not to repeat them in the future. He never gets angry. He will tell you things very calmly and handles the situation well which helps a bowler.”
Shami, who needs 18 wickets in 8 matches to break Saqlain Mushtaq’s record of fastest to 100 ODI wickets, told that in his two years of international career, skipper Dhoni backed him during all his tough times and that helped him take a lot of wickets.
“The support and backing of your captain despite making mistakes is very important and Dhoni does that. It has been a plus point for me that I have played and made my debut under him,” he said.
“When I was playing domestic cricket (for Bengal), I used to think about what I would talk to the seniors when I reach the international level. When I came to the international level, I felt a lot more comfortable than the domestic level. This is the confidence that has helped me thus far and I will try to take forward this self confidence ahead.”
During the last edition of the World Cup, it was all about dedicating it to Sachin Tendulkar, who was making his last appearance and Shami feels that one should try and win it this time too as we never know as who will possibly play his last edition.
“Winning the World Cup in itself is a huge motivation for us. All eyes are on the World Cup and everyone has a lot of expectations from us. The focus is to win the Cup come what may.
“The 2011 World Cup did have more craze since it was Sachin paaji’s last World Cup and everyone in the team worked towards achieving that goal. We too are playing this World Cup in the same way. Who knows who would be missing from the next World Cup. We are playing the World Cup with the same kind of intensity,” Shami added.