Indian pacer Mohammed Shami says his love for cricket helped him battle the off field problems that pegged him back a few months ago as he made an impressive comeback in the ongoing first Test against England here.
On the opening day of the first Test here, Shami took 2-64 while R Ashwin returned with figures of 4 for 60 to help India restrict England to 285-9.
It was a fine return for the 28-year-old Shami, who was accused of domestic violence and extra-marital affair by his wife some months back. He also sustained injuries after being involved in an accident and later missed the one-off Afghanistan Test for failing the yo-yo fitness test.
"(The tour of) South Africa was a long time ago and there have been some off field issues after that. I had to fight a lot in between but my effort was that I have to keep doing what I love most and what is most important to me (cricket)," Shami said.
"I wanted to just keep doing my job and then see what happens to the rest of the stuff in my life. Whatever difficulties I face, first I wanted to play cricket and keep doing it. The result is in front of us."
"There are ups and downs in life and in your family. But when playing for your country there is a responsibility and when you do that job properly, I think that's the best thing. So I am very happy with today."
"Overall the fast bowlers did well and he combined well with us. So we didn't miss the second spinner as we had experience on our side and it can be seen in the results."
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