Indian veteran speedster Mohammed Shami who was supposed to make his cricketing comeback through Bengal's Ranji clash will have to wait more as his knee injury has flared up ahead of the New Zealand Test series. Shami was in NCA for rehab programme after undergoing an Achilles tendon surgery in February.
Shami has been out of action since the ODI World Cup 2023 final, he ended the tournament as the highest wicket-taker with 24 scalps in his seven outings of the marquee event. He joined the squad after all-rounder Hardik Pandya was ruled out after the clash against Bangladesh.
Shami has been consistently sharing updates on his recovery, showcasing his progress through images of his practice sessions. Recently, he spoke about his upcoming return, emphasizing the need to take his time and not rush back into action. Even though he hasn’t been playing, his name still surfaces occasionally; for instance, on Day 5 of the Kanpur Test, Ravi Shastri highlighted his significance for the team’s upcoming tour in Australia.
"Shami had resumed bowling and he was looking on track to make a comeback to competitive cricket soon. But this knee injury has flared up recently. BCCI's medical team is assessing the injury but it may require quite a bit of time," a BCCI source said quoted TOI.
It may be recalled that Shami had endured a major knee injury during the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia. He was looked after by the current head of the BCCI medical team Nitin Patel.
"It's a jolt for the NCA medical team. They have been working on him for over a year. They have one of the best workload management systems in place. The medical team is trying its best to put him back in the park soon," the source said.
With this injury, there are chances that he will likely to miss the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024 which will take place in Australia from November 22. India will play five Test matches against Australia and the Rohit Sharma-led side will look for a winning hattrick on Australian soil.
