“In every religion, you will come across 5 to 10 people who won’t like the person from the opposite religion. I don’t have any objection against it,” Shami said in an interview with News18.

“Like how the topic of Sajda came up… If Ram Mandir is being built, then what’s the problem in saying Jai Shri Ram… say it 1000 times. If I want to say Allahu Akbar then I will say it 1000 times… what difference does it make?”

Shami himself was the subject of controversy when he was deemed to have used a religious action on the pitch in the India versus Sri Lanka match of the bygone ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, which he later dismissed as anything but.

The Indian pacer, then, had claimed that having bowled his best and stretched himself beyond his limit, he had simply fallen to the ground in a moment of exhasperation, shortly after he had taken his fifth wicket of the tie.

Shami remains sidelined at the time of writing. The Indian bowler last bowled in India's Cricket World Cup 2023 final loss against Australia, but subsequently missed the series' against Australia, South Africa, Afghanistan, and now England due to his ongoing recovery from an injury.