The story of Team India's fast bowling warhorse Mohammad Shami is a fascinating one.
The Moradabad-born man has been part of the Indian fast bowling arsenal since a decade now and is now regarded as one of the best in world cricket alongside Jasprit Bumrah.
However, Shami's journey as a fast bowler pales in comparison to the personal journey he has endured over the years.
The UP man had started his cricketing journey in 2010 with Bengal in the Ranji Trophy and thereafter, the Shahrukh Khan co-owned Kolkata Knight Riders IPL team in 2011.
The personal journey
In 2012, Shami met his future wife Hasin Jahan, who was working as a cheerleader for KKR, and they both fell in love.
Two years later, in 2014, they got married and had a baby girl, Aaira Shami, in 2015.
Just when everything seemed to be rosy in their lives, Jahan accused Shami of infidelity, domestic violence, rape and match-fixing in March 2018 with a series of screenshots.
It led to severe trolling and backlash against Shami, who decided to take the legal route. He later stated that his wife did not reveal about her first marriage and her two children from it.
With accusations and counter-accusations going back and forth, it took a toll on Shami's mental health as well.
The India pacer revealed in a Instagram chat with current skipper Rohit Sharma around 2020 that he had thought of committing suicide on multiple occasions when he faced trials in his personal life.
Resurgence
To come out of that phase and excel at the highest level for India has been Shami's biggest plus point.
On the 2019 Tour of New Zealand, Shami claimed his 100th ODI wicket becoming the fastest Indian to the milestone in his 56th match. He broke the record of Irfan Pathan, who had reached the landmark in his 59th game.
In the World Cup the same year, Shami became the second Indian bowler after Chetan Sharma to claim a hat-trick when he scalped three in three against Afghanistan to win the match for the Men in Blue.
India's go-to man in CWC 2023
And now coming to the current edition, the man has been a revelation of sorts ever since he returned to the playing XI after injury to Hardik Pandya.
Shami's scintillating effort of 5/54 against New Zealand in Dharamsala and 4/22 against England in Lucknow has made everyone sit up and notice what he can do, and it will be impossible for Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid to look past him any more in this tournament.
Hair transplant doing the trick
Shami had got his hair transplant done sometime in August and netizens who applauded his bowling success, also attributed some of it to his hair transplant.
Whatever maybe the ingredients to his roaring success at the current World Cup, Shami's story is not done yet, and he has definitely come a long way through a lot of struggle.
