'He Helped Me A Lot': India Coach's Touching Message For Retired Mohammed Shami

Morne Morkel got a chance to work with Mohammed Shami during the 2025 Champions Trophy.© AFP

Mohammed Shami's presence in the Indian dressing room during his early days as bowling coach helped him understand the team's philosophy and "Indian language", former South Africa pacer Morne Morkel said on former's decision to retire from Test cricket. Morkel joined Indian team as bowling coach in 2024 as a part of head coach Gautam Gambhir's coaching set-up. While Morkel didn't work with Shami in the Test format, he did briefly get a chance to work with him in early 2025 during ICC Champions Trophy which was Bengal speedster's last appearance in India jersey.

"Yeah, I was quite fortunate when I first started with the group for Shami to be a part of the team. You know, highly skillful player, a quality guy to have around in the group. And I was quite lucky when I joined for him to bring sort of the Indian language into the dressing room. He helped me quite a lot. So a sad day to see him go," Morkel told host broadcasters 'Sony Sports' during a pre-match interview.

Shami has taken 462 international wickets across formats including 229 in Tests and 206 in ODIs.

Shami however will continue to play white ball cricket for Bengal and in IPL for some more time. Morkel is happy that Shami is still playing domestic cricket with a lot of intensity.

"I mean, he's still bowling a lot of overs back home and it's still great to see," Morkel said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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