Mohammed Shami, the leading pacer for India, was one of the sportsmen who received the Arjuna Award on Tuesday. The award is given to an athlete each year for exceptional achievement in sports and games.
Shami was a member of the Indian squad that finished second in both the ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship. With 24 scalps from just seven matches, the 33-year-old was also the top wicket-taker in the World Cup, which was hosted in India.
Shami shared a video of the Rashtrapati Bhavan award ceremony on social media, saying, “I am extremely proud to have received the President’s prestigious Arjuna Award today.” I want to thank everyone who has helped me tremendously to get here and who has been there for me through all of my highs and lows.
Shammi grateful words
“Many thanks to my family, staff, teammates, BCCI, coach, and my ardent supporters.” I appreciate you recognizing my efforts. I’ll do everything in my power to always make my nation proud,” he continued.
Other honorees included boxer Mohammad Hussamuddin (who took home a bronze in last year’s world championship), wrestler Antim Panghal (a past junior world champion and bronze winner in the senior event), and athlete Parul Chaudhary.
His Journey from cricket to Arjun award
India’s top fast bowler in the 2015 World Cup in Australia was Mohammed Shami, who helped the team win 77 of the 80 available wickets as they advanced to the semi-finals. It was later discovered that he had been sidelined by a knee injury for the duration of the tournament, as well as the previous Test series against the hosts, which amounted to almost four months. His speed, accuracy, and most importantly, his ability to move the ball—both old and new—are the main factors contributing to his success.
There were also a great deal of annoying times. Early in 2016, Shami had high hopes of rejoining the Indian squad, but a hamstring injury kept him out of the Asia Cup in February and a limited-overs tour of Australia.
Although Shami is from Uttar Pradesh, he was discovered while playing first-class cricket for Bengal. When he was selected for India’s ODI team to play Pakistan in Delhi in January 2013, he had only participated in 15 first-class and 15 List A matches. In a 10-run victory, he demonstrated that his faith wasn’t misplaced by returning figures of 9-4-23-1, making history as the first Indian and only the eighth bowler to bowl four or more maiden overs in his ODI debut.
His Test debut against the touring West Indies in November of that same year was even more impressive. In the two-match series, he reverse-swung the old ball noticeably and quickly, taking 11 wickets at a rate of 16.54. After playing England in the summer, Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar put on 111 runs in Nottingham, England, to record the second-highest 10-wicket partnership for India in Test history.
Due to his outstanding results in the 2012–13 Ranji Trophy, where he took 28 wickets at 21.35 in five matches—including two ten-wicket hauls against Madhya Pradesh and Hyderabad—Shami was promoted to the Indian cricket team quickly. He was signed by the Kolkata Knight Riders for the 2011 Indian Premier League, and he has also had early success in the Twenty20 format, taking 14 wickets in his first eight domestic Twenty20 games. He played for them for the first time in 2013. The Delhi Daredevils acquired him in 2014, and even though he was injured for the entire 2015 season, they kept him in 2016.
Major Victory for Shammi
The Board of Control for Cricket in India proposed the pacer’s name for the esteemed award. Shami was ecstatic to receive his award nomination. “Receiving this award is a dream come true because it is unachievable and people die. It makes me very happy, and I’m proud of myself. Many live their entire lives in the role of mere observers, seeing other people receive these distinctions. As Shami had said to ANI on Monday in response to her nomination for the country’s second-largest sporting award, a lot of people still have unmet dreams.
Read More: Rinku Singh: Cricket Journey, Challenges, and Triumphs Unveiled