Mohammed Shami.
Mohammed Shami. Image Credit: X

There hasn’t been any perfect and guaranteed news regarding the comeback of India’s premier pacer bowler, Mohammed Shami, who has been out of action for nearly 11 months since the end of the ODI World Cup 2023 at home. The pacer was selected for the away Test series in South Africa but was later taken off due to a knee injury.

Mohammed Shami had an excellent time in the 50-over tournament 2023, as he finished as the highest wicket-taker with 24 scalps in seven innings at an average of under 11 and a strike rate of around 12.20, shouldering on three five-wicket hauls and one four wicket-haul with a best bowling innings of 7/57.

The Bengal pacer missed the five-match Test series at home against England as he underwent a successful surgery on the knee, which also ruled him out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the 2024 season and later in the T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA).

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The National Cricket Academy (NCA) reported that the pacer is supposed to be fit for the start of the home Test series against Bangladesh but, the reports claimed that Mohammed Shami has received a new injury which could rule him out of the game for the rest of the ongoing year.

Watch: Huge relief for India as Mohammed Shami starts bowling in the nets

But the Uttar Pradesh-born later confirmed on social media that all of this news regarding the pacer’s injury is rumors. But on the eve of the opening Test match against New Zealand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the Indian captain Rohit Sharma was asked to offer some status on the pacer.

“To be honest, it is difficult to make a call on him (Mohammed Shami) for the Australia series. He had a setback and had swelling in his knees. That put him back a little bit and had to start again. He’s at the NCA with doctors and physios. We don’t want to bring undercooked Shami to Australia. We are keeping our fingers crossed.” The Nagpur-born expressed in the pre-match press conference.

In 64 games, the 34-year-old has picked up 229 wickets at an average of under 28 and a strike rate of around eight overs, with the help of six five-wicket hauls at a best bowling figure of 6/56 in an innings. His last red-ball game was the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 against Australia at the Kennington Oval in South London.

India received their first home Test defeat against the Kiwis after 36 years, but when Mohammed Shami walked into the middle at the end of the action and started to bowl potentially at the batting coach of the Indian side, Abhishek Nayar, the selectors, and fans got an extra energy to expect the bowler being fit for the BGT 2024-25.

He wasn’t running in with full pace though but the rhythm looked sharp as he hurried Nayar with a short ball, who looked to guide it into the leg side.

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Mohammed Shami has picked up 44 wickets in the longest format of the game against Australia in 12 Tests at an average of over 30 and a strike rate of nearly nine overs, shouldering on two five-wicket hauls. In just eight Tests down under, the veteran has grabbed 31 wickets at an average of 32.16 and a strike rate of 54.23.

It will be interesting if he can satisfy the selectors to include him in the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.