OTD| Former Pakistani pacer Mohammad Sami was born in 1981

Former Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Sami is celebrating his 43rd birthday today. Sami was a bright bowling prospect for Pakistan in the early 2000s. He burst onto the scene when veterans like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were approaching the end of their international careers. The youngster was expected to become one of the prime fast-bowling options for Pakistan after these greats hung up their boots. 

He made his debut in international cricket in 2001 when he played his maiden Test match for Pakistan against New Zealand in Auckland. Exactly a month later, he represented Pakistan in ODI cricket for the first time. He got the opportunity to play his first ODI match against Sri Lanka in Sharjah. Like most other young fast bowlers from Pakistan, Mohammad Sami was also very quick. His extra pace was his X-factor and fans were anticipating his pairing with another express fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar who had terrorized batters from across the globe with his pace. Later in his career Sami also played T20I cricket for Pakistan. He played his first T20 international match in the 2010 T20 World Cup against Bangladesh. 

An underwhelming international career

Every fan or pundit who watched Mohammad Sami in his early days coming through the ranks expected big things from the youngster. He had an impressive start to his international career but the fast bowler could not continue the momentum and somehow found himself out of the team. After a long ouster, he made his comeback in the later phase of his career but by then he had lost his edge. 

Mohammad Sami played 36 Test matches for Pakistan picking up 85 wickets at a poor average of 52.74. He brought out his best in the 50-over format as he registered 121 wickets to his name in 87 matches at a much better average of 29.47. The Karachi-born had a short stint in T20I cricket where he played 13 T20 internationals for Pakistan. He played his last international game in 2016 in the T20 World Cup against Australia at Mohali.