Mohammed Shami has left an instant impact on his return to cricket after almost a year. Playing for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy 2024-24, the speedster took four wickets against Madhya Pradesh. The right-arm seamer was spot on with the ball and didn’t allow the batters to settle down. Shami last played for India during the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 final against Australia and then underwent surgery on his injured ankle.
The rehabilitation took a long time and the veteran missed the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and the Indian Premier League. He didn’t play in the Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand and was not considered for the five-Test series against Australia. However, he is likely to be included in the team for the last couple of red-ball matches with the Pat Cummins-led team.
India National Cricket Team has been found wanting in the pace department in Shami’s absence, and even pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has not been able to win matches for the country as he didn’t have a suitable fast bowling partner.
Shami took his first scalp in the form of Shubham Sharma (8), who was clean-bowled. Venkatesh Iyer (3), Saransh Jain (7) and Kumar Kartikeya (9) were undone by the 34-year-old.
Bengal were bowled out for 228 in their first innings while Madhya Pradesh managed 167. In 64 Tests, he has taken 229 wickets at an average of 27.71.
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