When the Prime Minister encourages you, it gives you confidence – Mohammed Shami

Indian fast bowler Mohammed Shami gave his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for motivating them after their heartbreaking World Cup final loss against Australia on Sunday. The honorable Prime Minister addressed the whole team in the dressing room and gave them an inspiring speech.

Modi said that the team played dominantly throughout the World Cup and they should not lose heart after losing the summit clash.

Meanwhile, Shami ended the tournament as the highest wicket-taker with 24 scalps in seven matches and he bowled with an impressive average of 10.71, including three five-wicket hauls and one four-wicket haul. The right-arm pacer was right on the money throughout the ODI showpiece and bowled brilliantly with seam-up position, which has always been his strength.

Shami was quoted by ANI as saying: “Such gestures are important (PM Modi meeting players). When the Prime Minister encourages you after that, it gives you confidence. Because your morale is already down. It is something really different.”

After giving a pep talk to the team, Narendra Modi also wrote on his social media handle, “Dear Team India, Your talent and determination through the World Cup was noteworthy. You’ve played with great spirit and brought immense pride to the nation. We stand with you today and always.”

Shami admitted they all had one bad day in the final but they played dominantly right throughout the competition.

“Overall we all performed really well,” Mohammed Shami said. “There was no shortage of skill and confidence. I feel sometimes as a team, we can all have that one bad day, which can come anytime. That day did not belong to us. We lacked in execution, runs, but there was not anything due to which our morale and confidence was down.”

India was skittled out for 240 runs and Shami feels they were not able to put enough runs on the board. He added it could have been a different story altogether had they scored 300 runs.

“We didn’t have as many runs. Wish we had 300 runs, then we could have easily defended. But I don’t think it is right to blame any one particular thing. It is important to look at where we stand as a team. It is important to work as a unit. But I’ll say one thing that maybe, we fell short on runs,” Shami said.