The former Indian opening batter, Aakash Chopra, has reckoned that there should be question marks on the fitness status of the premier pacer, Mohammed Shami, if he doesn’t appear in the third of the five-match T20I series, having missed the first two games at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Aakash Chopra acknowledged that even though it had been just a few days to go before the start of the Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled for February 19, the Bengal pacer hasn’t featured in the international game for nearly 15 months. The third game of the series will be played at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on January 28.
Despite Shami’s absence in the first two encounters, India enjoyed a healthy lead of 2-0 in the series and will hope to seal the series before the last two games in Pune and Mumbai.
Aakash Chopra, in a video shared on his YouTube channel, noted that Shami’s fitness had been the biggest question ahead of the third T20I game in the series. The right-arm pacer’s last game for the blue brigade came during the final of the 2023 World Cup against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
“Will Mohammed Shami be back? That’s the biggest thought. At some stage, he has to play. This month is about to get over, it’s the 28th, and then you have one more match, but your T20 series will be more than half done by this evening.” The former Delhi opening batter addressed.
“I want to see Mohammed Shami running in and bowling”- Aakash Chopra
The last game for the 34-year-old in the shortest format was also against the same opposition during the semifinal of the 2022 T20 World Cup at the Adelaide Oval. In 23 innings, the right-arm pacer has celebrated 24 wickets at an average of 30 and a strike rate of 20, with the best bowling figure of 3/15 in an inning.
“So if Mohammed Shami doesn’t play now also, what is the actual status? The truth is that Shami needs to play. If Shami doesn’t play, I am personally worried. It’s not that the Champions Trophy is starting tomorrow, but he hasn’t played for 15 months.” Aakash Chopra added.
The Suryakumar-led side opted for only one specialist seamer, Arshdeep Singh, in the first two games. The all-rounder, Hardik Pandya, shared the new ball with the left-arm fast bowler. The biggest weapon for the home side in the series was their spin trio of Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, and Axar Patel, while Washington Sundar also contributed with the wicket of Ben Duckett.
In the same video, Aakash Chopra pointed out that Shami would need a certain amount of overs under his belt to be fully prepared for the eight-team tournament.
“We are a broken record. We are repeatedly saying – no issues, next match, but the truth is that he will only get ready if he plays international cricket. As it’s said, you can only extract pure gold from gold by heating it. If Shami is not playing at all, at some stage, you will start wondering what the status is.” The renowned commentator addressed.
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“You are not making him sit out because of the bowling combination. There is no report about whether he is available to play this match, but I hope that he is available and plays the match. No matter how the match goes, whether he gets hit or gives fewer runs, picks up wickets or not, I want to see Shami running in and bowling.” Aakash Chopra concluded.
Shami made his comeback in the game during the red-ball clash against Madhya Pradesh at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. The experienced pacer went through the entire Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Bengal.