The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) on Saturday organized a special felicitation ceremony for veteran speedster Mohammed Shami in Chennai on the eve of his 100th first-class appearance. The felicitation ceremony was held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, where East Zone will take on South Zone in the Duleep Trophy final. The special event was held in the presence of East Zone captain Ishan Kishan and a few other team members.
CAB Treasurer Sanjoy Das felicitated the bowling all-rounder on the occasion by presenting him with a silver salver, a customized jersey with the number 100 and a cricket ball signed by CAB President Sourav Ganguly.
A Career Built on Precision and Consistency: Mohammed Shami
Across his 99 first-class matches heading into the final, Mohammed Shami has bagged 382 wickets, including 15 five-wicket hauls, with career best innings figures of 8 for 90.
Crossing the triple-digit barrier will see him become only the sixth Indian bowler to play 100 first-class matches, joining the elite ranks of Anil Kumble (234), Kapil Dev (184), Javagal Srinath (161), Harbhajan Singh (147) and Zaheer Khan (134). He has 900 combined wickets in all forms of the game, including 283 and 238 in List A and T20 cricket respectively.
Shami's brilliance was key to East Zone's march to the summit clash as he picked up five wickets in the match (2/28 and 3/42) to beat defending champions Central Zone in the semi-finals. Though the 35-year-old has been in consistent form in the domestic circuit, he has not played a single match for India since the Champions Trophy final in March 2025.
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Chief selector Ajit Agarkar revealed that Mohammed Shami is currently sidelined from red-ball international cricket on fitness grounds, but a number of former players have pointed to his domestic form as a reason why he should be recalled to the national side.