Bhai said national duty comes first: Mohammed Shami's brother Asif

Indian pacer Mohammed Shami’s father Tousif Ali has passed away after suffering a heart attack, forcing the cricketer to leave his rehab with the T20 team and rush to Amroha. Shami, who is undergoing rehab after recuperating from a knee injury, was with the team during the first T20 against England at Kanpur. He left for Amroha late last night. The pacer’s father had been hospitalised since January 5 when he had first suffered a heart attack.

His brother, Mohammed Asif spoke to Sportskeeda and said that some of the family members asked him to stay since their father wasn’t well from quite some time but the Indian pacer said that he cannot deny national duty and that the team needs him.

“He wasn’t well in Moradabad for a long time, then we had to shift to Delhi for his treatment. Bhai (Brother) came once back in January itself before leaving for Bengaluru. Certain members of the family asked him to stay, but he replied that India is as much of a father to him and he couldn’t deny that duty either.

“He was very emotional, but decided to go back to training, knowing that his recovery ahead of the Australia series is paramount for the national team’s plan there. Now, I know that he’s going to give his best performance till date in his next series.” Asif said.

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He also added that, “I’m sure he must be thinking in his head that he could have stayed back, but he made the right decision. “Abbu (Father) really respected his profession, and would’ve asked him to do the same. Cricket was in his blood, he was a huge fan of Wasim Akram, and I think that rubbed off on bhai during his younger years. We will all really miss the calming influence he had in all our lives especially bhai’s, when he used to get stressed.”

Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) Secretary Yudhvir Singh said the rest of the Indian team left for Lucknow today from where they boarded the flight to Nagpur, the venue of the second T20 on January 29.