The four players lined up for a joint media interaction ahead of the Indian team's going to Australia, Mohammed Shami came across as the most uncompromising.Shami and other three players - Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey and Umesh Yadav - run out in suits, as did the rest of the team and the support staff later on Tuesday evening during the BCCI awards ceremony. But while the other three's placid manner at the press conference was complimented by their well-groomed appearance, Shami wore a rough beard, which had a scattering of silver. His was a restless, even mischievous, presence. Shami amused himself by either tugging at his already loosened necktie or inclination to his right to share a joke with Umesh.
Shami would soon be confronted with serious questions, though. There was the inevitable one about his knee injury, which had kept him out of international cricket for nearly a year following the World Cup in aussies and kiwis. shami described injuries as an "irritating cheez [things]", and hoped - rather wishfully for a fast bowler - to never get injured again. There was a particularly lengthy follow up question that elicited a chuckle from him: "Bahut lamba savaal kiya [you have asked me a very long question]." However, he switched to a serious tone in a matter of seconds, as he elaborated upon the "toughest time of my life".
"The doctor had told me not to get out of bed for 2 months" he said. "I was only allowed to get up from my bed and go to the bathroom. Zameen par pair nahin rakh sakte ho [I couldn't even keep my feet on the ground]. The biggest blow was I couldn't play."Shami said that his only interactions during the period were with his wife, parents, brother and sister-in-law. It was only when he met his 'band of brothers' - a phrase repeatedly used to describe the India team at the BCCI awards - before the tour of Bangladesh that he felt optimism course through him again.
Shami, though, had by the end of the press conference returned to his prankster avatar, and was sharing a laugh with Umesh while still fidgeting with his tie"I had not played for a long time and the entire team was playing, so I was missing it a lot. It was very important for me to get back my rhythm and play a few matches," Shami said. "I wanted to start from where I had left off before my injury. I was feeling comfortable as I was able to bowl with the same pace, and hit the same line and length."
Team india skipper mahendra singh Dhoni designate that Shami was part of his plans for the T20 world cup, and said he would look to manage his workload carefully during the Aussies tour. "Shami has been a very good bowler for indian team, especially if you see the period before he got injured,"