Mohammed Shami: A Biryani lover with a taste for match-winning spells

“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies,” Andy Dufresne famously said in the Hollywood movie The Shawshank Redemption.

"Why will I leave hope? Hope should always be there. In any profession, you shouldn't leave hope. You should always have a goal. I don't deny that I have that goal,” Mohammed Shami had recently said after being asked about his plans to make a Team India comeback.

However, within 17 days of this statement, Shami decided that he had had enough and his hope of a Team India Test comeback had finally died. The 36-year-old, who last donned the whites for the country in June 2023, decided to hang up his boots from the longest format of the game.

He bids goodbye after playing 64 Test matches and scalping 229 wickets at an average of 27.71. Shami was a rare breed in Indian cricket with his ability to swing the ball both ways at a rapid pace. He burst onto the scene in an ODI against Pakistan in January 2013 but made his first impact on his Test debut against West Indies the same year in Kolkata.

First glimpse of greatness

The speedster sent the stumps cartwheeling as he scalped 9/118 in his first outing with the red-ball, putting on a masterclass of reverse swing at the very venue where he mastered his craft playing for Bengal. In no time, Shami became a regular mainstay in the Indian team and delivered one masterful spell after the other.

While Shami was equally effective with the new and the old ball, there was something about the second innings of a Test match that got the best out of him. Out of his 229 wickets, 101 have come in the second innings.

The most famous one being a spectacular show of 5/28 in Johannesburg, 2018, which helped India defend a 241-run target and win the Test on a dangerous pitch after being 0-2 down in the series.

Shami's love affair with second innings

Wickets first, Biryani later

At one point, South Africa were cruising to win the game after a 119-run stand for the second wicket between Dean Elgar (86) and Hashim Amla (52). During the lunch break, head coach Ravi Shastri saw Shami having a large plate of Biryani and asked if he only had hunger for food and not the wickets. 

Mohammed Shami left the plate in anger and returned to the field to run through the South African batting. He was welcomed back to the dressing room with biryani, and the fast bowler urged the coach to make him angry every time in a tense match.

STORY WORTH TELLING. A LEGACY WORTH CELEBRATING. ❤️ A look back at Mohammed Shami's incredible journey in whites and the moments that made him one of India's finest Test match-winners, as he bids farewell to red-ball cricket. #SonySportsNetwork #SonyLIV #ThankYouShami https://t.co/Bj1d9dETza

— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) November 7, 2026

That’s just one of the many tales in Shami’s remarkable red-ball career, where his hunger for wickets outdid his cravings for niharis and biryanis. Another one of Shami’s second-innings masterclasses once again came against South Africa in Visakhapatnam, 2019.

Special praise from Dale Steyn

After Indian pacers had only accounted for a solitary wicket on the first four days, Shami delivered his most menacing spell ever, rattling the stumps of Temba Bavuma, Faf Du Plessis and first-innings centurion Quinton de Kock, turning the game on its head.

His figures of 5/35 crushed South Africa’s hopes of saving the Test match as India took a 1-0 lead in the series. It was Shami’s expertise in producing match-winning spells that made him earn the title of the best bowler in the world from none other than his idol Dale Steyn in 2019.

While it was his swing mastery that helped Shami earn the title of the best bowler, he could also wield the willow when required. An average of 12 isn’t a true reflection of what Shami’s batting meant to India.

Him dancing down the track and depositing spinners into the stands was a sight that had become far too common during India’s golden era in the longest format under captain Virat Kohli.

Memorable batting heroics

Whether it was about adding crucial runs to extend the team’s lead or just showcasing his wide array of strokes, Shami always loved his batting. His both half-centuries were scored in England. First was an unbeaten 51* in a 101-run partnership for the last wicket alongside Bhuvneshwar Kumar (58) in Nottingham, 2014.

However, the second one held much more significance. With India down and out on Day 5 at Lord’s against England in 2021, Shami slammed a marvellous counter-attacking half-century, scoring 56* (70) and added an unbeaten 89 runs with Jasprit Bumrah (34* off 64) for the ninth wicket to take India’s lead past 270. 

He also registered figures of 1/13 in ten overs after Kohli had asked his troops to ‘unleash hell’ on the England batters to set up a 151-run victory.

Is the end closer than it appears?

Whether it was with the bat or with the ball, Shami was a complete team man and continued delivering his best even while dealing with issues in his personal life.

As Test cap no. 279 signs off from Indian cricket, it takes with it the hunger to bowl long spells and the ability to run through batting lineups.

The sun may have set on Shami’s Test career, but the fire to play for Team India again still burns bright in his belly. With ODI World Cup 2027 a year away, the focus will now only be on white-ball cricket for the veteran fast bowler. 

Only time will tell if he will be able to make a comeback into the ODI side. However, if India has already seen the last of Mohammed Shami in national colours, then it would be a tragic end to one of the most remarkable cricketing careers.