"Seen him bowl flat-out while running temperature of 102" - WV Raman on Mohammed Shami's Ranji Trophy debut

Pacer Mohammed Shami earned plenty of plaudits for his starring role in India's historic win in Centurion recently in the first Test against South Africa. The pacer's former coach at Bengal, WV Raman, has now opened up about Shami's attitude and determination.

Raman recalled how Shami had bowled while running a high fever on his Ranji Trophy debut.

Speaking to News18, Raman said:

"In terms of attitude, there were never any doubts. To cut a long story short, I’ve seen him bowl flat out, in the last session of the last day, with a 60-over-old ball, while he was running a temperature of 102. This was in his debut game. You didn’t need anything further to tell you what kind of attitude that boy had."

Shami made his debut for Bengal against Assam in 2010, when Raman was the coach.

Raman also recalled how he had made a bold prediction, which to his relief, came true.

"Before Shami made his Ranji debut, I was pushing hard for him to play for Bengal. To that end, I even went to the extent of saying that from the day you make him play Ranji Trophy, within 18 months he will play for the country. And that it happened to a T, so I did not end up with egg on my face," he said.

Mohammed Shami did not train the way other bowlers did: WV Raman

WV Raman went on to talk about how Mohammed Shami's training regime was different from other pacers.

"“The other thing about him was that he did not relish the kind of training other fast bowlers do: running around the ground or hitting the gym. His method of training was bowling for one and a half or two hours. He would not compromise on his effort in those sessions. That’s another thing about him that stood out," he said.

Mohammed Shami recently reached the milestone of 200 Test wickets with his five-wicket haul in South Africa's first innings at Centurion.

He ended up taking three more in the final innings as India won by 113 runs.

Speaking about him in the post-match presentation ceremony, captain Virat Kohli hailed him as one of the three best Test pacers in the world right now.

Shami is expected to play a key role in the next match at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, which is set to begin on Monday.