Indian veteran pacer Mohammed Shami took to social media on Tuesday (January 7) to send a strong message to BCCI ahead of the Champions Trophy squad announcement. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has set the deadline for the provisional 15-man list for the marquee event for January 12.
Shami uploaded his video of him undergoing a net session ahead of Bengal’s preliminary quarter-final game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Haryana on January 8 in Vadodara. His latest outing saw him slam 42* off 34 balls, with five fours and a six, while returning with figures of 1/40 against Madhya Pradesh.
The 34-year-old returned to competitive cricket after a one-year gap in November 2024. He last played for India in the 2023 World Cup, where he emerged as the leading wicket-taker with 24 scalps in seven appearances. However, he took a sabbatical from the game to undergo Achilles Tendon surgery in February 2024, and also missed the entire IPL 2024.
As a result, he was released by his IPL franchise, Gujarat Titans as well. However, the right-arm pacer got the suitor in the form of Sunrisers Hyderabad, who shelled out INR 10 crore to secure his services for IPL 2025.
Thereafter, Mohammed Shami had a successful Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he finished with 11 wickets in nine games, and gave a strong signal of him returning to full fitness. Through his posts on social media, Shami looks determined to make his international comeback.
Shami’s caption read:
“Precision, Pace, and Passion, All Set to Take on the World! 🌍💪”
Ravi Shastri slams lack of communication between Shami and team management
Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri criticized the handling of Mohammed Shami’s case by the team management and the selectors. As per Shastri, he would have taken Shami to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he would have been working with the best physios to get back to his 100%.
Shastri’s comments come after the NCA ruled Shami out of the BGT, despite him playing domestic cricket actively. After the directions from NCA, captain Rohit Sharma also stated to the media that he isn’t taking any risk of increasing workload of Shami.
“I would have kept him part of the team and made sure that his rehabilitation was done with the team,” Shastri told the ICC Review. “And then if we thought by the third Test match that no, this guy can’t play the rest of the series, I would let him go.”
“But I would have brought him with the team, kept him, monitored him with the best of the physios and best of the advice even from international physios who are in Australia and seeing how he went. But I would have kept him in the mix,” he added.
Furthermore, Shastri felt that the inclusion of Shami would have helped India with experience and reduced workload of key pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who could only bowl 10 overs in the final Test in Sydney.
“It got so tight at 1-1 going into Melbourne. You just needed that experience and support. For all you know, he might have raised the bar as well. And it would have been the two guys there (Bumrah and Shami),” he added.
FAQs
How many wickets has Mohammed Shami taken in Tests?
229 scalps in 64 games
When did Mohammed Shami last played a T20I?
November 2022 against England
