India’s veteran fast bowler Mohammed Shami has opened up on the chatter about the retirement of veteran players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and himself. Shami said the retirement decision should be left to the individual.
The experienced seamer admitted the day he gets bored of getting up early in the morning for the training sessions, he will call time on his career.
Meanwhile, Shami was not picked in India’s Test squad for the series against New Zealand.
The veteran fast bowler bagged seven wickets in three matches of the Duleep Trophy while representing East Zone. Furthermore, the Bengal fast bowler took 37 wickets in the previous season of the Ranji Trophy and was one of the most impressive fast bowlers in the tournament along with Jammu and Kashmir, Auqib Nabi Dar.
Shami has scalped 15 wickets in four Test matches while playing in New Zealand. He last played a Test match for India in 2023, which was the WTC final against Australia.
Shami said on Sports Tak, “The day I get bored of waking up at 6:30 am, I will myself say thank you. But I am not bored yet. The motivation is still there. In my opinion, I should keep playing. There is still time because, personally, as a sportsperson, I believe that if you feel too tired to go to the ground at 6:30 am for four or five days, I think your time has come, and you can think about retirement.”
“This is always an individual call when you have served the country for such a long time and broken records. I don’t think anyone else has the right to say that your time for retirement has come. Performance can fluctuate for anyone. No one is a machine. But this call is specifically for the person who has given 15-17 years. Why don’t you leave the call to him?”
Shami picked five wickets in Bengal’s nine-wicket win against Delhi in the Ranji Trophy clash.
