'I Don't Care About...': Mohammed Shami Reveals His Success Mantra In ICC Events After Impressive Fifer Against Bangladesh

Mohammed Shami revealed his success mantra of performing well in ICC events after his exceptional bowling performance during India's six-wicket victory over Bangladesh in their Champions Trophy 2025 opener in Dubai.

Shami marked his return to the ICC tournament with a superb five-for in Dubai. During the process, he also became the fastest Indian and the second quickest overall to reach 200 ODI wickets.

After his sensational performance, Shami said that picking wickets is his primary aim in ICC events and "doesn't care about getting hit" for runs.

"In ICC events, I don't care about getting hit, I want to get wickets. I just go for wickets. I don't care about the economy rate at all. I spent eight hours (a day) in NCA. I had the hunger. Unless and until you have hunger, you cannot achieve your goal," Shami said at the post-match press conference.

Shami, who wondered if he would again get to play international cricket during his long recovery phase from injury, grabbed 5/53 to help India bowl out Bangladesh for 228 and set it up for the likes of Shubman Gill (101), Rohit Sharma (41) and KL Rahul (41) to complete a fine win.

"It was tough after 14 months, the comeback. It pinches, it hurts. I got the opportunity to practice in domestic (cricket) that resulted in such a performance," the veteran pacer said. 

"After winning, you stay in full confidence. Mindset will remain the same against Pakistan. No problem at all," he added. 

While wrecking Bangladesh, Shami became India's leading wicket-taker in 50-over ICC events.The 34-year-old's five wickets took his tally to 60, overtaking former India pace spearhead Zaheer Khan. The left-arm seamer had taken 59 wickets in 32 innings while Shami crossed the mark in just his 19th innings.

He has 55 wickets in ODI World Cups across three editions, with 24 coming in the 2023 tournament hosted at home.