There were concerns around Mohammed Shami's fitness after the group stage clash against Pakistan. However, in the practice session on February 28 at the ICC Cricket Academy, Shami was in full tilt. With head coach Gautam Gambhir overseeing the net session, Shami beat Virat Kohli's bat and the ball went through the gap to hit the middle stump. The bat supporting the stumps fell a few feet back.
Alongside Shami, there was an injury scare for skipper Rohit Sharma during Pakistan clash. The opener looked in fine form in the net session playing his shots including the pull shot.
Shami roared back to form with a five-wicket haul against Bangladesh in India's ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign opener on February 20. In the match against Pakistan, Shami remained wicketless and did not bowl his full quota of eight overs.
Rahul lauds Shami
Earlier, wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul had his own unique way of praising Shami. Rahul said that Shami makes him dive full length. At times, he looks stupid or brilliant behind the stumps. He said that Shami can surprise you in any condition. In addition, he said that Shami troubled him in the nets.
"The tough thing against Shami to wicket keep is every game - funnily somehow, in every game he'll make sure that I'm diving full length. And then he gives me one or two opportunities to be brilliant behind the stumps or look stupid sometimes," Rahul told the reporters on February 28.
"That's something that not many people talk about. Everyone talks about how he's gifted and how he can get the ball to seam in any condition and how upright his seam is. But not many people talk about how accurate he is and how sharp he is. He's actually, he can surprise you with his pace. Just the other day in the nets he hit me straight in the badge. So, all of these things make him a very difficult bowler to play against. And I think he's built up really nicely," he added.
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Shami's ODI record vs New Zealand
Shami has taken 37 wickets from 14 ODIs at an average of 19.32 including two fifers. His best bowling figures in ODIs of 7 for 57 came against New Zealand in ODI World Cup 2023.