Mohammed Shami reveals what inspired India's famous Lord's fightback [Exclusive]

Star India fast bowler Mohammed Shami has announced his retirement from Test cricket. The speedster played 64 matches in his career and scalped 229 wickets at an average of 27.71, the second-best by an Indian pacer with a minimum of 64 wickets.

However, there’s one occasion when Shami bailed India out of trouble not with his bowling skills but with his willow. When India were staring down the barrel at 209/8, leading by just 183 runs on Day 5 at Lord’s in 2021, Shami stitched a game-changing stand with Jasprit Bumrah.

The atmosphere was quite intense on the pitch as England bowlers were going all out with a short-ball ploy against the Indian tailenders. Back in 2021, Mohammed Shami had shared the details of what transpired on the pitch during the historic Test match in an exclusive conversation with Mr Cricket UAE founder Anis Sajan.

“Their senior players and ex-players had already begun celebrating the day before. They were sledging us a lot when me and Jasprit were batting. Even we were quite verbal when they were batting in their first innings. It’s all a part of the game. Things got quiet intense in the middle, both me and Jasprit were hit,” Shami told Mr Cricket UAE.

England were particularly rattled by Jasprit Bumrah’s bizarre ten-ball over on Day 3 of the Test match as the Indian speedster kept peppering him with bouncers. It wasn’t taken well by the England seamer, who hit back at Bumrah and Shami when they were out batting for India.

“I told Jasprit ‘the sooner we get out, the more we’ll have to bowl. James Anderson came to us and said that you were trying to injure me in the first innings. You didn’t play in the right spirit. I was like ‘we’re playing international cricket, we’ll bowl fast and bouncers. It’s your turn now you can also bowl’. He was like ‘I’m not like you,’” he added.

Shami ended up scoring his second half-century in Tests, playing a brilliant innings of 56* (70), adding 89 runs for the ninth wicket with Jasprit Bumrah (34). Courtesy of their stand, India set a stiff target of 272 runs for England in 60 overs and eventually won by 151 runs. Shami calls that innings his best day out with the bat.

“That day will remain my best day out with the bat because to play like that under pressure and win the match for the team was a really proud moment,” said Shami.

The speedster had also revealed that he played the ODI World Cup 2015 enduring a career-threatening knee injury. 

“It was a do-or-die call for me. My knee had got really damaged. It could’ve been really threatening. My thought was like, I don’t know whether I will get another chance to play. It’s an opportunity so I should continue. I needed one month’s rest to recover, if I had opted for it, the world cup would’ve ended by then. I took a chance but I didn’t expect it to get that worse. But the 2015 World Cup will hold a special place in my heart,” Shami had said.

Shami finished the World Cup as the joint fourth-highest wicket taker of the tournament with 17 scalps from seven matches at an average of 17.29. India also enjoyed an unbeaten run in the tournament until being thrashed by Australia in the semi-final. The Indian bowling attack took all ten wickets of the opposition teams for seven consecutive matches, and Shami played a pivotal role in the team’s success.