Mohammad Shami recently shared his experience of his first time in the Indian dressing room. Shami, who plays domestic cricket for Bengal, made his India debut in 2013 in an ODI against Pakistan in January.
His Test debut came in November against the West Indies in 2013, while the T20I debut came against Pakistan in Mirpur on March 21, 2014.
He recently spoke about his first time in the Indian dressing room and stated that he was asked by senior Yuvraj Singh to stand on a chair and give a speech. However, Shami admitted that he was so nervous seeing all the big-name players looking at him that he forgot what he wanted to say.
"The first time I joined the Indian team, I did not know how things were. There was a team meeting a day before the game. When I walked in through the door and looked around, there was not one name that had not come in my dream. I just sat quietly. Yuvraj Singh asked me to stand on the chair. What can you tell him? So, I did that.
He told me to give a speech. I had forgotten everything after seeing all the names. I could not say much. I just told my name and where I was from. I could not say more than that as I could not remember anything," Shami said, as per CricketNext.
Shami also mentioned the funniest player he played with and discussed the lighter side of the Indian dressing room. Shikhar Dhawan, a former India opener, was his choice.
Before retiring from both domestic and international cricket in 2024, Dhawan played in 34 Tests, 167 ODIs, and 68 T20Is with the Indian side for a number of years. Even when India had lost, Dhawan frequently knew how to improve the atmosphere, according to Shami.
"Shikhar is very funny. He does those things. Say we lost a match; everyone comes and sits in the change room. Shikhar wants to do something different. He will just laugh very loudly. If I ask why you are laughing, he says, "Because we lost." He does such things. Anytime, he will stand on the table and start dancing to Punjabi music. These things create that atmosphere in the dressing room. We also enjoy it because winning and losing keep happening. When you are playing the whole year, you will win and lose. All these things are there. But no one then goes into a very sad mood in the dressing room," the pacer said.
Mohammad Shami has 229 wickets in 64 Tests, 206 wickets in 108 ODIs, and 27 wickets in 25 T20Is for India. He was part of the Indian team that played the final of the 2023 World Cup and won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
