Running was as instinctive for Mohammad Shami as bowling wonder balls. He could sprint barefoot in the mud and bolt past nagging ankle and knee injuries with the same vigour. Running was his release, which assured him he was fit for a final Test comeback after a year out of the game with a chronic heel injury.The Test recall never came, and exactly 13 years after he first sizzled for India in whites, Shami called time on the longest format. His laid-back, staggered run-ups occasionally held him back. The 36-year-old had more in him than his eventual haul suggests: 64 Tests and 229 wickets – the sixth-most for an India pacer.Yet he makes a real case for a spot in an all-time India Test XI, arguably ranking among the three best pacers the country has ever produced.ALSO READ | Mohammed Shami, the artist who made fast bowling look like a callingWhen most of his fast-bowling peers took a backseat on unyielding sub-continent strips where India championed its spin artillery, Shami soared as a seam virtuoso.Asian forceA singular achievement captures his home dominance. Shami played 21 Tests at home in a decade without a defeat. He remains one of two specialist bowlers (alongside Pakistan’s Sarfaraz Nawaz) to play at least 20 home Tests without a loss.Six pacers played more Tests than him at home for India. None match Shami’s 22.1 average and 42.6 strike rate for 76 wickets. Only Jasprit Bumrah, who played his first home Test in 2021, trumps Shami’s aggregates.Story continues below this adShami took a wicket every 41.8 deliveries in Asia, bettered only by Pakistan legend Waqar Younis (37.8) among seamers with at least 75 wickets in the continent. Despite the immaculate command of seam and contrast swing, Shami’s desi and overseas versions picture a curious dichotomy. Nothing really stopped him from ensuring greater shares away from home, except occasional flutters in a spell or a session.Shami’s deviation on average was the highest among India’s top five pacers abroad. The away-home deviation stands at 8.39. He conceded more per dismissal away from India. It took him more deliveries to take a wicket away from home, costing nearly two overs (11.4 balls) in excess on average.India’s most successful overseas Test pacersBowlerAway WicketsAway SRHome WicketsHome SRAway-Home SRAway-Home AVEKapil Dev21572.221955.716.56.36Zaheer Khan20755.410470.2-14.8-4.4Ishant Sharma20759.510465.6-6.11.14Jasprit Bumrah17244.662386.62.84Md. Shami153547742.611.48.39Codeword: SISHis popular nickname, ‘Second-Innings Shami,’ wasn’t an apocryphal analysis after all. Shami got better over the breadth of a Test match, sharper with each passing innings and deadly at the back end.Even in the first innings (innings 1 and 2 of a Test), only Bumrah (striking every 43.2 balls) eclipses Shami’s (55 SR) wicket-taking efficacy among Indian pacers. Of the four Indian quicks to record at least 100 wickets in the second innings (3 and 4), Shami’s strike rate (44.1) outshines his compatriots. Since his Test debut, only Kagiso Rabada has effected more wickets with a better strike rate (35.6) than Shami in the second innings.Shami by inn.InnsWktsBBIAvgSR5w1st innings25535/11232.5856.712nd innings39755/4429.253.913rd innings32566/5624.2144.224th innings26455/2823.8444.12Before Bumrah came on the Test radar, Shami was the seam prototype on whom India relied. His peak coincided with Virat Kohli’s captaincy tenure, when a combative seam attack progressively took shape. Between December 2014 and January 2022, when India became the most dominant Test unit, Shami emerged as Kohli’s strike weapon.Shami was the highest wicket-taker (123) among all pacers in away conditions in the period. His 47.7 strike rate for 173 wickets led the Indian charts, ahead of Ishant Sharma (55.9 for 133 wickets), Umesh Yadav (53.2 for 124), and Bumrah (52.2 for 107).View this post on InstagramStory continues below this adShami racked up 50 wickets in the Ranji Trophy since last season, only bettered by J&K’s Auqib Nabi and Sunil Kumar among pacers. He ran through the West Indies in Kolkata with boundless energy on his Test debut, his 9/118 match figures remaining the benchmark for the rest of his career.The knees may have given in a touch, the run-up trimmed even further, but Shami ran in just as well this week, capping four wickets in his final red-ball appearance for Bengal at his beloved Eden.