Absent from the international circuit for 11 months, India’s star pacer Mohammed Shami was seen bowling on the centre wicket of M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru after hosts’ eight-wicket loss to New Zealand on October 20. With a heavily strapped left knee, Shami was seen bowling to assistant coach Abhishek Nayar and later Shubman Gill. The top-order Indian batter missed the first Test due to a stiff neck.
As Shami bowled, bowling coach Morne Morkel was closely watching him. His run-up was slightly shorter as he bowled to Gill.
Shami’s last appearance in international cricket was in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 final against Australia at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on November 19. Later, he revealed that he played the tournament with an injured ankle but still managed to bag three fifers and become the highest wicket-taker. Later, Shami underwent surgery and has been recovering at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bengaluru.
Shami has swelling in knees
Shami was supposed to return in the home Test series against New Zealand but he is yet to regain full fitness. In the pre-series press conference, skipper Rohit Sharma revealed that Shami has swelling in his knees.
“To be honest, right now, it’s pretty difficult for us to make a call on him, whether he’ll be fit for this series or Australia series. He recently had swelling on his knee, which was quite unusual,” Rohit told the reporters in Bengaluru.
“He was in the process of getting fit, getting close to 100 per cent, he had swelling in his knee, that put him back a little bit in his recovery. So, he had to start again. Right now, he’s at NCA, he’s working with the physios and the doctors at NCA,” he added.
Doesn’t want undercooked Shami in Australia
While Rohit has his fingers crossed over Shami regaining his fitness, he does not want to take an undercooked bowler to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed, we want him to be 100 per cent fit. We don’t want to bring an undercooked Shami to Australia, that is not going to be the right decision for us,” the opener said.
“It is quite tough for a fast bowler, having missed so much of cricket, and then suddenly to come out and be at his best, it is not ideal,” he added.
