Mohammed Shami has shared stories of life in the India dressing room, praising Shikhar Dhawan’s knack for keeping spirits high and recalling how overawed he felt on first joining the squad. The two spent close to a decade in the same set-up, Shami leading the pace attack and Dhawan opening the batting.
Dhawan’s way of lifting the mood
Speaking to CricketNext, Shami said Dhawan was very funny and liked to break the gloom after a defeat. While everyone sat quietly in the changing room, Dhawan would laugh loudly, and when asked why, he would simply say it was because the team had lost. Shami added that he might even climb on a table and dance to Punjabi music.
Shami said the team enjoyed this, because a side playing all year will inevitably win and lose, and nobody should end up deeply downcast.
A silent first team meeting
Shami also looked back on his arrival in the national side. Before a match, he walked into a team meeting and saw so many players he had idolised that he sat in silence. Yuvraj Singh asked him to stand on a chair and give a speech, but Shami said he forgot everything and managed only his name and where he was from.
Since then, he has become one of India’s leading fast bowlers and was part of the squad that won the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Still chasing a 2027 World Cup place
Shami continues to play for Bengal but has not yet been recalled under the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee. At 35, he hopes to stay in the picture for the 2027 ODI World Cup, having been India’s leading wicket-taker at the 2019 edition.
He has been picked for East Zone in the upcoming Duleep Trophy, where Ishan Kishan will captain and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will be his deputy, giving Shami another chance to show his fitness and form.
