"There was a lot of blood" - Mohammed Shami's close friend recalls the pacer's horrific car accident
Team India's Mohammed Shami was involved in a horrific car accident near Dehradun in 2018. The cricket star's close friend Umesh Kumar, who was with him in the car, recently shared details about the crash.
Umesh mentioned that he went to Dehradun with Shami for a few days. While returning, their car was hit by a truck in the wee hours. He stated that the fast bowler was badly injured and there was a lot of blood.
Speaking on journalist Shubhankar Mishra's YouTube channel, Umesh said:
"Shami had gotten a clean chit and we decided to go to Dehradoon. We saw death very closely that night. We reached Dehradoon, stayed there, practiced at a stadium, and were on our way back. We left around 5:30 AM in the morning. We fell asleep on the journey. Suddenly it felt as if the car was completely shattered. By the time we could control ourselves, Shami's face was bleeding and he was injured badly. There was a lot of blood."
During the podcast, Mohammed Shami spoke about how the truck driver tried to flee from the spot after the accident, even hitting their escort vehicles in the process. He recalled:
"A truck hit our car from the front. The truck hit from the front indicator and tore the side of the car to the rear indicator. The most dangerous thing was that while trying to escape, the truck driver even hit our escort car. When our car got imbalanced and went off-road, there was a transformer within two meters of distance. There was a ditch on one side and a transformer in the front."
It is worth mentioning that Shami got a cut above his right eyebrow in the collision. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was given stitches on his head.
"Fed around 30,000 to 35,000 people daily" - Umesh Kumar on Mohammed Shami starting community kitchens during COVID-19 lockdown
Umesh Kumar also spoke about how Mohammed Shami and he started four community kitchens during the COVID-19 lockdown in India. He revealed that they would give food to almost 35,000 people daily.
Sharing details of the community kitchens, Umesh said:
"He (Shami) told me, 'I am seeing here on television that many poor people are coming and going, I want to start a kitchen.'. Shami and I started four such kitchens. I think we fed around 30,000 to 35,000 people daily."
Apart from feeding the needy, Shami also booked trains for labourers stuck in Amroha. Umesh stated that the veteran pacer even received the ones who travelled from Mumbai with the help of Indian actor Sonu Sood and arranged air-conditioned busses to send them home, adding:
"There are many kilns in Amroha and all the labourers there are from Bihar. Shami booked a whole train for 3000 people. We personally went to every bogie and gave them tiffins. Trains also came from Mumbai, which we used to book. Sonu Sood helped us with that there. Shami and I received those people here and made them sit in air-conditioned buses."
Mohammed Shami made it clear that he didn't help those people because of any political aspirations, but he felt that he should do something for them during the tough period.
"During that period, we fed around 16 lakh people in two months. However, I never thought at that time that we would become politicians or that need votes. It came from within. There are people with a lot of money here, but nobody came to us for contribution," Shami remarked.
On the cricketing front, Mohammed Shami underwent an Achilles Tendon surgery earlier this year and has begun training for his comeback.