In the extended lockdown period amid coronavirus outbreak, the Indian pacer Mohammed Shami recently had a chat with the former Indian left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan on Instagram live. During that chat, Shami revealed that he played almost the entire ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 with the fractured knee.
Australia and New Zealand hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 where India participated as the defending champions. In that time, Mohammed Shami was a very impactful bowler who made his international debut in January 2013.
In the recent Instagram live chat with Irfan Pathan, Shami revealed that his knee was broken during India’s opening game of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. However, he still played the entire tournament. Shami credited then team India Physio Nitin Patel for his successful journey in that tournament. The pacer used to take three painkillers to handle the situation.
Shami said, “I had knee injury during the 2015 World Cup. I couldn’t walk after the matches I played throughout the tournament with the injury. I played the 2015 WC because of Nitin Patel’s confidence.
“The knee broke in the first match itself. My thighs and knees were the same size, doctors used to take out fluid from them everyday. I used to take 3 painkillers.”
However, Shami was India’s second most successful bowler in that tournament as he finished as the joint-fourth most wicket-taker in overall with 17 wickets in seven games.
Mohammed Shami felt worst during the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
Shami also revealed that he had a lot of pain ahead of the semi-final match of that tournament which was against the hosts Australia at Sydney. The right-arm fast bowler also felt that he couldn’t play that game but the skipper MS Dhoni and the team management gave him huge confidence and tried to help him in the best way. Even in the late of the first innings, Shami again felt that he couldn’t continue for more but Dhoni again gave him huge confidence.
He added, “Before the semi-final I had told my teammates that I couldn’t take it any longer. On the day of the match, I had a lot of pain. I discussed it with the management but they said it will be alright.
“Mahi bhai, the team management gave me so much confidence. They said it’s the semifinal we cannot go for a new bowler.
“I bowled the first 5 overs and gave away about 13 runs with a wicket. I beat Finch and Warner’s bats but couldn’t get the edge. So I went off after telling Mahi bhai.
“The condition was very bad even after I took an injection. I told Mahi bhai that I cannot bowl because I cannot run any longer. But he told me I trust you, any other part-timer will also go for runs.
“He just told me don’t give away more than 60 runs. I haven’t played in a worse condition than that. 4mm piece had chipped off the bone. Some said my career was over, some said I shouldn’t have played. But touchwood I’m still here now in front of you all.”
In that semi-final match, Shami had the bowling figures of 10-0-68-0. While Australia scored 328/7 (50 overs) after winning the toss, India were bowled out for 233 runs.
After that game on 26th March 2015, he missed out the international matches for more than a year. He played the next international match in July 2016 during the Test series in West Indies.