One of the greatest bowlers across formats for the Indian team, Mohammad Shami, has been a key part of the pace attack in the Blue Brigade, which in the current generation is the best around the world, along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah. Wherever they have tripped in the recent few years, they have taken wickets in every condition.
It has been around a decade since Mohammad Shami made his debut for the national side, as he now stands at the eighth position in the list of highest wicket-takers for the Indian side in all formats, with 448 scalps in 245 innings at an average of 26.06 and a strike rate of just around six overs with a best of 7/57 in an innings.
With his classical bowling, the Amroha-born has inspired the current generation to bowl fast and become the new sensation in the modern age of the game.
Mohammad Shami picks former Pakistan pacer as one his favorite bowlers of all time
Recently, the 34-year-old was excellent with the white ball swinging it around during the recent ODI World Cup 2023 at home, where he finished as the leading wicket-taker thanks to picking up 24 wickets in seven games at an average of under 11 and a strike rate of 12.20 and an economy rate of 5.26, with the best figures of 7/57 during the semifinal against New Zealand in Mumbai.
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Being away from the game at the moment in recovering full shape, Mohammad Shami was asked to pick his favorite two bowlers of all-time, as the veteran decided to deny an Indian on the list and went with a South African and Pakistan pacer.
“There are a lot of them. But if you are asking for names, then I like Waqar Younis and Dale Steyn more.” The Bengal pacer reveled during the rapid-fire ‘Question and Answer’ session in an interaction with Star Sports.
The former Pakistan captain and one of the legends of the game, Waqar Younis, is the ninth-highest wicket-taker of all-time in international cricket, as he has captured 789 wickets in 412 innings at an average of 23.70 and a strike rate of 36.6, besides celebrating the best bowling figures of 7/36 in an innings.
The South African pacer is 18th in the same list, thanks to his 699 scalps in 342 innings at an average of under 24 and a strike rate of 37, as the back end of his career was destroyed due to regular injury, which kept him out of the action for many years before he decided to call his time.
The same story continues with Mohammad Shami, who despite being in such a good touch in the last 50-over World Cup, has missed all the action since then due to injury. He was on the squad for their Test series in the Rainbow Nation before he had to pull out at the eleventh hour. He also missed the five-match home Test series against England and went on to be away from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 and the T20 World Cup.
Even though he has started to bowl with a short run-up, the National Cricket Academy (NCA) members aren’t that keen to feature him in their home Test series against Bangladesh, as the desire is to get him in full shape for their upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia.