Mohammed Shami's hopes of joining India's Test squad in Australia seemed to have vanished
Photo : AP
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Mohammed Shami is unlikely to join the Indian team in Australia
- Shami returned to action last month
- Shami played all nine Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches
Mohammed Shami's fitness status has been a major talking point during India's tour of Australia after the star pacer failed to recover in time for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). The 34-year-old legend spent almost a year on the sidelines due to an Achilles issue.
While Shami was not named in India's initial 18-member squad for the trip down under, there was expectation that he will join the squad once he regained fitness. The hopes got a major boost last month as Shami made a comeback to the field after 360 days during Bengal's last match of the Ranji Trophy's first leg against Madhya Pradesh.
Shami bowled 43.2 overs and took seven wickets in that match over the course of the two innings. Since then, Shami played all nine matches for Bengal in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) and bowled his full in each match. In 35.3 overs, he took 11 wickets in the tournament at an economy of 7.85
However, Shami has still not got the nod to take the flight to Australia despite the national team's pace attack lacking experience. After India's defeat in the Adelaide Test, Rohit Sharma claimed Shami developed swelling in his knee while playing the SMAT.
End of Shami's Australia's Dream?
Although Indian fans were waiting for the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee to add Shami's name to the Test squad, the veteran Indian pacer has been named in the Bengal squad for the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy, which will start from December 21.
With Shami set to play the tournament, it hints that he is not in the plans of the national team for BGT with the final two Test matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) scheduled to begin on December 26 and January 3 respectively.
Shami last played for India in November last year during the 2023 Cricket World Cup. He underwent surgery in February and missed the IPL and T20 World Cup. Earlier, he was unfit for both the tour of South Africa and the home series against England
Bengal Squad For Vijay Hazare Trophy: Sudip Kumar Gharami (C), Mohammad Shami, Anustup Majumdar, Abhishek Porel (wk), Sudip Chatterjee, Karan Lal, Shakir Habib Gandhi (wk), Sumanta Gupta, Subham Chatterjee, Ranjot Singh Khaira, Pradipta Pramanik, Kaushik Maity, Vikas Singh (Sr), Mukesh Kumar, Saksham Chaudhary, Rohit Kumar, Md Kaif, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Sayan Ghosh and Kanishk Seth
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