Indian test captain Rohit Sharma wants to be 100% sure of Mohammed Shami’s fitness before including him in the BGT 2024-25 squad. He wants BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (formerly NCA) to give him clarity on whether Shami is fit to take part in test matches, where he would be having an excess workload of the red-ball format.
Shami carried the ankle injury throughout the 2023 ODI World Cup, where he emerged as the finest bowler with 24 wickets in seven games. Unfortunately, his last international appearance was in the final clash of the marquee event against Australia.
Thereafter, the star pacer underwent surgery on his right Achilles tendon in February 2024 and was ruled out of the entire Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Shami returned to domestic cricket last month in a Ranji Trophy game for his state side, Bengal. After picking seven wickets in a solitary Ranji appearance, he scalped 11 wickets in nine SMAT games, as Bengal qualified for the quarter-finals.
Rohit Sharma understands Mohammed Shami has been bowling well and picking wickets in T20s, but he needs an update from CoE regarding the pacer’s endurance for the test format.
“About Shami, I think it’s high time somebody from the NCA talked about him, where he is rehabbing. Those guys are the ones who need to come up and give us some kind of update,” Rohit said at the post-match presser on Wednesday.
Rohit pointed out an earlier occurrence of Shami developing a swelling on his knee during a SMAT game; however, Bengal team management had denied it. The 37-year-old clearly stated that he will act according to the inputs of the physio and the concerned persons, who are actively tracking Shami’s fitness.
“I understand he’s playing a lot of cricket back home, but there have been some complaints about his knee as well. So, look, the last thing you want is the player coming here and then pulling out in the middle of the game. You know what happens when that kind of thing happens.
“So, there is no way we want to take that chance unless we are like, not 100%, 200% sure, we’re not going to take any risk. But yeah, like I said in the last press conference, the door is open if those guys at the NCA feel that he is okay to go and recover and play, we’ll be happy to have him,” Rohit reiterated.
Mohammed Shami to play for SRH in IPL 2025
After missing the IPL 2024, Mohammed Shami was released by Gujarat Titans ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. He entered the event at his base price of INR 2 crore.
Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants went into a bidding war to secure the services of Shami. However, Chennai and Lucknow opted out of the war at INR 8.25 crore and INR 9.75 crores, respectively.
Sunrisers Hyderabad raised the bid to INR 10 crore, before the Titans were asked whether they wanted to use RTM card for the pacer. However, the Titans denied it and Kolkata dropped out, as Shami will now play for Hyderabad in IPL 2025.
FAQs
How many IPL wickets does Mohammed Shami have?
127 wickets in 110 games
Has Mohammed Shami won Purple Cap?
Yes – 28 wickets in IPL 2023
