"We will certainly miss his upright seam position": Former India chief selector Chetan Sharma on Mohammed Shami's Test retirement
New Delhi, November 12
Former India chief selector and fast bowler Chetan Sharma called Mohammad Shami a "great cricketer" and said that Team India will "miss his upright seam position. Shami on Friday announced his retirement from Test cricket, bringing an end to his 13-year journey in the longest format of the game on the very same day he made his Test debut - November 6, 2013.
"Mohammed Shami is a great cricketer; there is no doubt about that. Every great player knows when the right time has come, and it is his decision, which we should respect. However, we will certainly miss his upright seam position and the way he gets the ball to travel with such movement," Chetan Sharma told ANI.
Sharma acknowledged that Shami's decision to step away from the longest format must be respected but admitted that Indian cricket would miss his remarkable ability to maintain an upright seam and generate movement off the surface.
He also urged young fast bowlers to study Shami's bowling action, describing his seam presentation as a skill that even experienced pacers would struggle to replicate.
"I always tell young players that if you want to learn how to release the ball, watch Mohammed Shami. We have bowled fast as well, but I don't think any of us have been able to produce the kind of seam position that Shami consistently achieves. There is so much to learn from that," he noted.
Reflecting on Shami's Test career, Sharma emphasised that his technical brilliance would remain a valuable learning resource for the next generation of Indian fast bowlers, while wishing the veteran pacer the best for the future.
"When a player retires from red-ball cricket after playing 60 Test matches and taking more than 200 wickets, you realise that you may never get to see that particular skill again. His seam position is something special. Young cricketers have a lot to learn from Mohammed Shami, and I wish him all the best," he concluded.
Shami represented India in 64 Test matches, claiming 229 wickets in 122 innings at an average of 27.71 and an economy rate of 3.30. His best bowling figures were 6/56, while he registered 12 four-wicket hauls and six five-wicket hauls.
Shami last featured in a Test match during the ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 final against Australia. He claimed figures of 2-122 and 2-39 in the Test that India lost by 209 runs.
— ANI
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