Why do not you permit the decision to him?

Mohammad Shami criticized the chatter surrounding the future of senior Indian players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and himself. He opined that the retirement decision should be left to the individual.

He clarified that he hasn’t thought about retirement yet. The veteran pacer stated he will call time on his career when he is bored of waking up early and going to the ground.

Shami said during an interview with Sports Tak:

“The day I get bored of waking up at 6:30 am, I will myself say thank you. But I am not bored yet. The motivation is still there. In my opinion, I should keep playing. There is still time because, personally, as a sportsperson, I believe that if you feel too tired to go to the ground at 6:30 am for four or five days, I think your time has come, and you can think about retirement.”

“This is always an individual call when you have served the country for such a long time and broken records. I don’t think anyone else has the right to say that your time for retirement has come. Performance can fluctuate for anyone. No one is a machine. But this call is specifically for the person who has given 15-17 years. Why don’t you leave the call to him?”

Mohammad Shami was snubbed by the selectors for the T20I, ODI, and Test squads for the upcoming New Zealand tour. He has not played an international match since the 2025 Champions Trophy final.

The 36-year-old picked up five wickets across two innings in Bengal’s Ranji Trophy 2026-27 opener against Delhi. However, he was rested for the team’s recently concluded game against Services.

“Some people do this thinking they will get a reaction” – Mohammad Shami on senior players constantly being scrutinized

Mohammad Shami believes some people target senior players to get a reaction out of them. He remarked that the selectors were free to drop someone if they weren’t happy with the performances.

However, he slammed the unnecessary outside noise and pressure created on social media.

“If you don’t like the performance, don’t pick him. But nowadays, on social media, the main people raise fewer questions than outside. People enjoy adding fuel to the fire for the smallest of things. I have also seen so many such comments and posts where people enjoy doing this. Some people do this thinking they will get a reaction,” Mohammad Shami added in the same interview.

Bengal will take on Kerala from October 26. They are currently the table-toppers of Elite Group C with 12 points in two matches.

Edited by Aditya Suketu Desai