Found Shami standing on 19th-floor balcony at 4 in the morning: Flatmate opens up about pacer's tough times

The pacer's friend shared on a podcast: 'Shami was fighting with everything during that phase. He lived with me in my house. But when the fixing allegations with Pakistan broke, and led to a probe that night, he was shattered. He said that I can tolerate everything but not allegations of betraying my country'.

Mohammed Shami

Credit: PTI File Photo 

A friend of Indian pacer Mohammed Shami recently spoke in a podcast where he revealed the tough times Shami battled after facing allegations from his now separated wife Hasin Jahan.

Despite topping the charts as one of India's fastest bowlers who also transcended to become India's leading wicket-taker in the last three editions of ODI World Cups, Shami's personal life was piled up with challenges.

An NDTV report identified the pacer's friend as Umesh Kumar who is said to have shared on Shubhankar Mishra's podcast insights of what Shami went through after Hasin Jahan had accused the cricketer of "taking money from a Pakistani woman for match-fixing".

"Shami was fighting with everything during that phase. He lived with me in my house. But when the fixing allegations with Pakistan broke, and led to a probe that night, he was shattered. He said that I can tolerate everything but not allegations of betraying my country," Umesh told Mishra on the podcast.

He further shared, "It also came in the news that he wanted to do something drastic that night [end his life]. It was around 4 am, in the morning when I got up to drink water. I was on my way to the kitchen when I saw that he was standing on the balcony. It was the 19th floor we were living in. I understood what happened. That night of Shami's career, I feel, was the longest. Later, one day, when we were talking, he got a message on his phone saying he got a clean chit from the committee that was investigating the matter. He was probably happier that day than he would have been if he had won a World Cup," he added.

Shami also shared details of the agony and disappointment he battled and said, "It depends on what you prioritise more and then on the other person on how true his/her statements are. So when you know that the other person's actions are invalid and not important to you, you should not leave your priorities."

"If I had not been the Mohammed Shami I am today, no one would have cared about my situation, and neither would the media be interested in it. Then why should I leave the thing that made me Shami. So you have to keep fighting," the pacer shared.