Indian fast bowler Mohammed Shami has for the first time spoken about how personal issues had a huge impact on his mental side of things and how he even thought of committing suicide thrice during the phase. He even said family members feared he “might jump” from their 24th floor apartment.
The fast-bowler spoke about the episode during an Instagram chat with his India mate and limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma.
“I think if my family had not supported me back then, I would have lost my cricket. I thought of committing suicide three times during that period due to severe stress and personal problems.”
Md Shami said on Saturday in a chat with Rohit.
The pacer also revealed that the period was tough and it was almost impossible for him to focus on his own game. “I was not thinking about cricket at all. We were living on the 24th floor. They [family] were scared I might jump from the balcony. My brother supported me a lot.”
He also said that in order to take his mind away from all the personal issues he spent a lot of time training at the academy in Dehradun.
“Two-three friends used to stay with me 24 hours. My parents asked me to focus on cricket to recover from that phase and not think about anything else. I started training then and sweated it out a lot at an academy in Dehradun.”
What had happened?
Back in March 2018, Shami’s wife Hasin Jahan had accused him of domestic violence and even lodged an FIR with the police after which the pacer and his brother were both booked under relevant sections.
Apart from this, there were several other allegations which were levied by Jahan, but Shami was cleared by the BCCI’s anti-corruption unit.
However, after the allegations were levied, the BCCI withheld his central contract. Also, after the 2015 World Cup, the pacer suffered a knee injury and as per him, all these issues took a massive toll on him and his mental space.
“Rehab was stressful as the same exercises are repeated every day. Then family problems started and I also suffered an accident. The accident happened 10-12 days ahead of the [2018] IPL and my personal problems were running high in the media,” Shami said.
Mohammed Shami’s fitness
There were also concerns over Shami’s fitness, but the fast-bowler has worked extremely hard and has now become one of the lynchpins of India’s fast-bowling attack across all the three formats.
“The fast bowling group together believes they can knock any side over. And the belief in his (Shami) own ability and his fitness – this is the fittest I’ve seen him in his career. And his Test form has translated into one-day cricket,” Kohli said in New Zealand.
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