By now, a timid man would have quit. But there is no surrender in the vocabulary of Mohammed Shami, a veteran fast bowler who still roars like a lion.
Cruelly ignored by the selectors despite his consistent habit of taking wickets in domestic cricket, Shami tore up the field on Sunday with a blistering spell of fast bowling.
With unrelenting accuracy, he sent two players back to the pavilion as the right-armer laid down the foundation for Lucknow Super Giants’ first victory of the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) season — a crushing five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Chasing 160, skipper Rishabh Pant’s (68 no off 50) innings guided Lucknow home.
With South African Aiden Markram also contributing a solid 45, the star of the show was Shami himself — a veteran of 197 international matches and the leading bowler from the just-concluded 2023 ODI World Cup.
Shami (4-0-9-2) was giving a masterclass in T20 opening bowling as he castled Sunrisers’ destructive Hyderabad openers Travis Head (7) and Abhishek Sharma (0).
Hyderabad did compile 159 for nine grazie to half-centuries by Heinrich Klaasen (62 off 41) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (56 off 33), but the early damage inflicted by Shami’s incisive opening spell (3-0-7-2) didn’t let Hyderabad target a really big finish.
After playing his last international match representing India in the 2025 Champions Trophy, Shami has been consistently snubbed by Indian selectors.
But on Sunday, he showed once more that he is still good enough to be entrusted the new ball alongside Jasprit Bumrah for India.
Man of the match on Sunday, Shami said he has never given up improving his game.
“If you want to participate, it’s vital that you stay connected with the game. You cannot practice skills if you are not fit to practice! So I remained in touch with the game, played all the domestic games,” said Shami, who had taken 37 wickets at an average of 16.72 in seven Ranji matches for Bengal last season.
Shami takes no wickets for granted, despite his rich haul of 462 in international cricket.
“Nothing happens without skill or experience. So you need to adjust,” Shami said, responding to a question on his slower balls against Sunrisers on Sunday.
His mix of swing and seam on Sunday may have had the aesthetes salivating, but it is still far from certain that Shami, 35, will next don an India uniform.
What we know for sure is if his current red-hot form continues, Shami would become a headache not just for the rival batters in IPL but also Indian selectors.