Mohammed Shami announces retirement from Test cricket after 13-year career

Mohammed Shami, 36, announced his retirement from Test cricket on November 6, bringing a 13-year Test career to an end.

Shami finished with 229 wickets in 64 Tests at an average of 27.71, including 12 four-wicket hauls and six five-wicket hauls, and retired with the 13th most Test wickets by an Indian bowler. His bowling strike rate stood at 50.2, the second-best among Indian bowlers after Jasprit Bumrah (42.86) among those with 100 or more Tests.

In October 2019 at Vizag, Shami produced a match-defining second-innings spell on Day 5, when the wicket was assisting spin and he relied on reverse swing. He took 5/35 in 10.5 overs to help bowl South Africa out for 191. India won that Test by 203 runs.

At Eden Gardens in 2013 against West Indies, Shami registered his best match figures of 9/118, taking 4/71 in the first innings and 5/47 in the second. India secured victory by an innings and 51 runs, with Shami’s 5/47 forming the stronger portion of his match haul. Those figures remain the best match return of his Test career.

Shami was pivotal in India’s 2018 win in Johannesburg, one of India’s rare Test victories on South African soil. After India were bowled out for 187 in the first innings, Shami bowled 12 overs as a second-change bowler, then received the new ball in the second innings and claimed 5/28 in 12.3 overs. India won that match by 63 runs.

In the first Test of the 2021/22 tour at Centurion, Shami took 5/44 in the first innings to help restrict South Africa to 197, allowing India to take a 130-run first-innings lead. He added 3/63 in the second innings and finished with eight wickets in the game. That first-innings spell proved decisive in the match outcome.

During the 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth, Shami recorded his best Test innings figure of 6/56 in the second innings of the second Test and finished the series with 16 wickets. At one stage in that match he was on a hat-trick after dismissing Tim Paine and Aaron Finch on consecutive games. Although India lost the match, Shami’s performance was entered on the honour board.

He made his Test debut on November 6, 2013, against West Indies at Eden Gardens.