Mohammed Shami’s father was hospitalised since January 5. (Source: Facebook) Mohammed Shami’s father was hospitalised since January 5. (Source: Facebook)

Mohammed Shami’s father Tousif Ali passed away on Friday after suffering a heart attack, forcing the pacer to leave his rehab with the Indian T20 team and rush to Amroha.

Shami, who is undergoing rehab after recuperating from knee injury, was with his father before he decided to join the team for the first T20I match in Kanpur which the India lost by seven wickets.

In a recent interaction with sportskeeda, Shami’s brother Mohammed Asif revealed “He wasn’t well in Moradabad for a long time, then we had to shift to Delhi for our father’s treatment. Bhai came once back last month itself before leaving for Bangalore. Family members asked him to stay, but he replied that India is as much of a father to him and he couldn’t deny that duty either.

Shami is currently training to make a return to the Indian team post knee injury. The 27-year old bowler got soreness in his knee after the third Test against England in Mohali.

Asif further added that “Shami was very emotional but decided to go back to training, knowing that his recovery ahead of the home series against Australia is important for the national team’s plan there. Now, I know that he’s going to give his best performance till date in his next series.”

Shami chose not to comment on his father’s loss, and stayed away from the media. Though Asif confirmed that his brother might be thinking of whether his decision to leave his father was correct or not.

“Abbu (Father) really respected his profession, and would’ve asked him to do the same. Cricket was in his blood, he was a huge fan of Wasim Akram, and I think that rubbed off on bhai during his younger years. We will all really miss the calming influence he had in all our lives especially bhai’s, when he used to get stressed.”

The pacer’s father had been hospitalised since January 5 when he had first suffered a heart attack.

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