00:00Mohamed Sami, born on 24 February 1981 in Karachi, emerged from the domestic ranks as
00:06one of the Pakistan's most electrifying pace prospects in the post-Vaseem Bakar era, a
00:12right-on-fastballer blessed with the wippy action and the ability to extract sharing
00:17pace from the most ducile surfaces.
00:20Sami's early forays into international cricket were marked by the raw brilliance and the
00:25sense of boundless promise.
00:27It was in 2001 against New Zealand that Mohamed Sami announced his arrival on the test stage,
00:33claiming a five-wicket haul in his debut match, an effort that thrilled the poorest and spoke
00:38of a fast-boiling future that Pakistan cricket so often the cradle of the lethal quick could
00:44rightfully dream of it.
00:45If that debut was a herald, his performance in only his third test match, a hat-trick in
00:51the Asian Test Championship final against Sri Lanka, was the fanfare of the prodigy in bloom.
00:57Remarkably, he would go on to etch his name among the rare breed of ballers to claim hat-tricks
01:02in both test and ODI formats.
01:04Mohamed Sami's pace and swing would prove less kind in endowing him with consistency.
01:11Time and again, series after series, he faltered at the altar of promise.
01:16As the likes of Rana Naveed al-Hassan, Omer Gul, Mohamed Asif and later Mohamed Aamir stormed
01:21into the limelight, Mohamed Sami's star flickered dimly.
01:25Although supremely fit and undeniably fast, often touching the high 140s and even venturing
01:30into the 150 km hour, he often struggled for rhythm control and wicket-taking penetration.
01:37Captains tried him with the new ball, then as if was changed, yet the conundrum remained
01:42unsolved.
01:43He leaked runs when control was needed and often lacked bite when breakthroughs were crucial.
01:49After an underwhelming series against India in 2006, his fortunes plummeted.
01:54Omit from the Sri Lankan tour, he was fortuitously recalled for the English summer, largely due to
02:00a slew of injuries to Pakistan front-line ballers.
02:03His form, however, remained elusive.
02:06Mohamed Sami was no mere tear away.
02:08Behind that lean frame and abbreviated run-up, he concealed the craft of conventional outswing,
02:14the guile of reverse wing, and the Yorker that could smash the base of any set of stems.
02:20Yet something, perhaps mental resolve, perhaps technical frailty, consistently hindrance his
02:26ability to translate skill into sustained success.
02:29In 2007, Mohamed Sami took a controversial decision by joining the unofficial Indian Cricket
02:35League that is called ICL, representing the Lahore Basha.
02:40His decision led to a ban from national and domestic duties, effectively pushing him into
02:45the wilderness during what should have been the prime of his career.
02:49Imran Khan once likened him to the great Malcolm Marshall, a compliment heavy with the expectation.
02:55Indeed, in flashes, Mohamed Sami hinted at such lofty pedigree.
02:59On 1st December 2003, he ran right in an ODI, capturing five wickets for just 10 runs.
03:05Early that year, he had the dismantled Kenya in Sharjah with a spell of 4-for-25.
03:10His 50th ODI appearance fittingly came against India in Lahore on 24 March 2004.
03:17A milestone reached in what was then a volatile and high-pressure cricketing landscape.
03:23Mohamed Sami was often cited as one of the fastest ballers in the world, and at one point it was
03:28claimed that he had bowed a Thunderbolt at 164 kmh, a figure that, though later dismissed
03:35due to faulty speed guns, fed by the mythos of his raw velocity.
03:40Despite his inconsistent record, Mohamed Sami was never entirely discarded.
03:45Former greats Vasim Akram and Bakar Yunus remained staunch admirers, pointing to his face and
03:51wicket-taking instincts as SO2 valuable to ignore.
03:55Mohamed Sami's career was one of dazzling potential, punctuated by the unfulfilled promise.
04:01A bowler who had the weapons but perhaps not the war plan.
04:05In Pakistan's grand pantheon of fast men, Mohamed Sami will remain an enigmatic figure.
04:11Never quite the destroyer he might have been, yet never lacking the fire to dream that he could be.
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04:20Thank you very much.
