Shami is originally from Sahaspur village in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh. His father Tousif Ali was a farmer, who was also a fast bowler in his younger days. Shami has a sister and three brothers, all three of whom wanted to be fast bowlers. In 2005, Tousif recognised Shami's bowling abilities and took him to Badruddin Siddique, a cricket coach in Moradabad which was 22 km from their village.

"When I first saw him bowling at the nets as a 15-year-old kid, I knew this boy is not ordinary. So I decided to train him. For one year I prepared him for the UP trials, as we don’t have club cricket over here. He was very co-operative, very regular and very hard working. He never took a day off from training. During the under 19 trials he bowled really well, but due to politics, he missed out on selection. They asked me to bring him next year, but at that moment I didn’t want Shami to miss one year. So I advised his parents to send him to Kolkata."

—?Badruddin Siddique on Mohammed Shami

After Shami missed out on getting picked for the Uttar Pradesh Under-19 team, Badruddin sent him to Kolkata later in 2005. Shami started playing for the Dalhousie Athletic Club. While he was playing for this club, he was noticed by Debabrata Das, a former assistant secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal, who was impressed with Shami's bowling and drafted him into his team, Town Club, with a contract of Rs 75,000. Das took Shami, who had no place to stay in Kolkata, to his own residence. Shami bowled well for Town Club, but could not get selected for the Bengal Under-22 team. Das went to one of the selectors, Samarban Banerjee, and asked him to watch Shami's bowling. Banerjee was impressed with his bowling and selected him for the Bengal Under-22 team.

"Shami never wanted money. His goal was the stumps, the sound that comes from hitting the stumps. Ever since I saw him, most of his wickets were bowled. He bowls with an upright seam, on or just outside off stump, and gets it to cut back in."

—?Debabrata Das on Mohammed Shami

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