Mohammed Shami’s failure to be cleared to join the ailing Indian team on their tour of Australia for the last two Tests of the five-match BGT 2024-25 series had legends like Ravi Shastri and Ricky Ponting questioning whether his rehab was mismanaged by the NCA.
Shami had surgery on his Achilles tendon in February 2024. He did not participate in either the Indian Premier League (IPL) or the T20 World Cup 2024. The pacer returned to competitive cricket for Bengal in domestic competitions. He performed well for Bengal but was not selected for the final two Tests in Australia.
He was formally ruled out of contention before the fourth Test in Melbourne, with the BCCI medical staff citing recurrent knee swelling, but both Ponting and Shastri believe a journey to Australia and a late-series return might have been pushed.
I would let him go: Ravi Shastri on why Mohammed Shami was at NCA for a long time
According to Ravi Shastri, Mohammed Shami should have been in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad. Shastri criticized the lack of clarity surrounding Shami’s recovery, pointing out that he should have completed his rehabilitation alongside the squad.
“Absolutely, there’s no question about that. To be honest, I was very surprised with the communication going on in the media as to what exactly happened to Shami. Where is he when it comes to recovery? He’s been sitting in the NCA for I don’t know how long.
I would have kept him part of the team and made sure that his rehab was done with the team. And then if we thought by the third Test that no, this guy cannot 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,” Shastri said on ICC Review.
Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, and Prasidh Krishna failed to match Shami’s effect. Shami returned from injury to play in the Ranji Trophy against Madhya Pradesh. He also took part in all of Bengal’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches and is presently competing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Ricky Ponting talks about Mohammed Shami’s absence and what it meant for Bumrah and co
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes India made a mistake by not putting Mohammed Shami in the lineup, particularly in the later stages of the series. Ponting contended that even if Shami was not fully fit, his presence would have made a difference since India had the depth to handle his workload.
“I was really surprised when he wasn’t flown out even halfway through the series, two Test matches in. India’s make-up obviously had Nitish Reddy there. So you had another seam bowling all-rounder anyway.
So if Shami, even if he wasn’t fully fit, if he had to bowl fewer overs in a day, you had a backup seam bowling option to help him out and I think he could have been the difference. If Shami, Bumrah and Siraj were in their starting team, I think things could have been completely different here in Australia,” Ponting stated.
Mohammed Shami is likely to make his India return against England in the upcoming white-ball series at home.
Also Read: Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma Set To Play In India vs England ODI Series- Reports