Mohammed Shami played his first professional game of cricket after 360 days. He suffered an ankle injury during the ICC 2023 World Cup final.
Shami was expected to be in the Indian squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia. But it took him longer than expected to regain full fitness. Earlier he was expected to be available for the Bangladesh series and he was confident about his return in the series against New Zealand.
In his absence, only Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are the only experienced pacers in India’s pace attack. Siraj’s current form is not that great either.
Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, and Akash Deep have no experience bowling on Australian pitches. Had Shami been in the Indian squad, the pace attack would’ve had more experience with them.
4 wickets for Mohammed Shami on his return
On his return, Shami bowled 10 overs for 34 runs without a wicket on the first day. Madhya Pradesh was then bowled out for 167 runs on Day 2. Shami picked up 4 wickets, which is a great sign for India.
He picked up the wicket of MP’s captain Shubham Sharma and followed it up by cleaning the tail. Shami picked up the last 3 wickets. He looked in good rhythm and bowled at a good pace. He bowled a total of 19 overs and conceded 54 runs for his 4 wickets.
The 34-year-old pacer has played 64 test matches for India. He has picked up 229 wickets at an average of 27.71. He has 12 four-wicket hauls and 6 five-wicket hauls to his name.
Shami is India’s most experienced pacer and the best after Jasprit Bumrah. As things stand currently, it looks like he’ll prove his fitness and may get added to the Indian squad later on in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
