Sunrisers Hyderabad traded Mohammed Shami to Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 10 crore before this season. On Sunday, he repaid them back with interest, ripping out Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma in the Powerplay with a masterclass in skill and deception.

Shami began over the wicket to Head, a line that hinted at predictability. The Australian, expecting the ball to shape away, set up accordingly. Instead, the first three deliveries jagged back in: tight and invasive, cramping him for room. By the fourth, when Shami finally sent one across on a perfect length, Head was content to nudge it to get off strike.

Against Sharma, the bluff took shape. Shami shifted deep third man to deep point, hinting at width outside off stump. Shami, however, bowled a searing yorker, speared at Sharma’s leg stump. Then came the flourish. In the final ball of the opening over, another fielder was pushed to the off side, reinforcing the idea of width. Shami did bowl wide, but it was a cutter. Sharma, through with the short early, was caught at short third for a duck. The hook was baited.

The pacer wasn’t finished. He returned the next over with another vicious cutter. Head, still recalibrating, pressed forward awkwardly. His bottom hand slipped, and the ball looped toward mid-off. Aiden Markram dived forward to take a sharp catch.

Two wickets. Eighteen dot balls. Figures of 2/9 and the Player-of-the-Match award.

“If he keeps bowling like this, it will be difficult for the selectors to ignore him,” former Delhi pacer Sanjeev Sharma told TOI. “Play him in the Afghanistan series. But like a dent in a car, you have to handle it with care. Similarly, his body needs careful management.”

At 35, Shami knows it better than anyone. After a difficult IPL 2025 season for the SRH, where he managed six wickets from nine games, Shami has rebuilt the hard way.

“I am not a machine. If you’re fit only then can you work on your skills. That’s why I kept in touch with the game and played all the domestic games,” he told reporters.

Shami tore through the previous Ranji season, collecting 67 wickets for Bengal.
Since his last appearance for India at the ICC Champions Trophy last year, he has lingered on the fringes, in part due to injuries.

That’s the Shami paradox. A fragile frame and an unbreakable craft. But on days like this, he bends the ball and the game to his will.