It’s clear that Mohammed Shami and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have fallen foul of each other. The fast bowler last played for India during their Champions Trophy campaign in Dubai last year. He has not played T20Is and Tests since February 2025 and June 2023, respectively.
He has played domestic cricket in the meantime and then, of course, the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the ongoing 19th edition, Shami has been brilliant for his team, Lucknow Super Giants. His sixth franchise to date.
There is no doubt that Shami is fantastic and that seam bowling comes naturally to him; however, the truth of the matter is that he is not indispensable. And he has had disciplinary issues. He has his own lifestyle. He prefers his own food. He prefers his own training regimen. Basically, he has a mind of his own, and it’s a big problem. And when you have a rebel’s spirit, you had better be exceptional. Sadly, he is not.
Actually, Shami saw a serious dip in his value during the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE. The entire unit played badly to exit the tournament in the first round itself, but Shami’s ineffectual bowling, particularly against Pakistan, for the first time sowed the seed of serious doubts that maybe India needed to move on from him.
Of course, it couldn’t have been done straight away without a replacement. The BCCI couldn’t find any eventually. So, he played in the 2022 T20 World Cup too in Australia, and once again in the all-important semifinal against England, he gave away 39 in three overs as India embarrassingly lost the contest by 10 wickets.
On important days, Shami is often terrible
The problem with Shami has always been that more often than not, he fails to impress in the most important matches. Take, for example, the 2023 World Cup, where he ran through one batting unit after another until the final came along. India were desperate for him to bowl well after scoring just 240, but Shami failed in the most important match of the event.
Take, for example, the World Test Championship final earlier in 2023 against Australia at the Oval. There, he returns figures of 2/122 and 2/36. Of course, Shami alone wasn’t responsible for those defeats, but those performances suggested he wasn’t exactly special.
So at the heart of it, it’s not so much Shami’s way of living; it’s his inconsistency, and then fitness issues have made it worse. Shami underwent heel surgery in early 2024, and since then, the BCCI has not been exactly supportive of him. A big controversy erupted when Shami told the media that the board asked him to play certain matches despite him being unsure about his fitness.
So one can see what happened here, what may have widened the gulf between them. Shami refused to abide by the BCCI’s way of functioning. Who is at fault? It’s difficult to say, but it’s needless to say the board runs the game, and it’s stronger than any player. It can take any call on any player as per its own discretion, right or wrong; it’s not important.
That’s how the world operates.
One can have sympathy with Shami, but he has not looked in great shape in the last few years. Even in the Champions Trophy, where he produced some good spells of bowling, he looked a bit overweight. In the recently concluded Ranji Trophy and now in the IPL, things have not changed. If anything, he looks worse.
As said before, Shami is a natural with the ball, and he will continue taking wickets like he did yesterday against SRH with figures of 2/9 in his four overs, but fitness is important. With that kind of physique, he won’t last long in international cricket, which is far more testing than domestic cricket or even the IPL. Fitness is important for fielding and catching too, not just bowling.
The age is not on his side either. He is going to turn 36 in September, and with his history of fitness, it’s unlikely we’ll see him in action again in India colours. The presence of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akashdeep Singh, Arshdeep Singh and many other Indian fast bowlers makes the BCCI spoilt for choice.
The BCCI should take the blame too for not handling Shami properly. Sure, they could have done better. During Shami’s worst phase, when he fell out with his estranged wife Hasin Jahan in the wake of her accusing him of committing one horrible thing after another, the board stuck with Shami and helped him get a move on. But clearly, it’s not the same anymore.
