Mohammed Shami took 7 wickets on his return to Ranji Trophy game against Madhya Pradesh. Let's deep dive how well he bowled against MP.
Mohammed Shami returned to the action nearly a year after his last competitive game in the ODI World Cup 2023 final in Ahmedabad. He ran in hard with hunger during the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 fixture for Bengal at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. After going wicketless across ten overs on the opening day of the clash against Madhya Pradesh, significant speculation grew around his fitness.
He was running a bit gingerly at the start of his spell. The question raised if he was bowling with full intensity or was his ankle troubling him. But the class of the Uttar Pradesh-born is on his wrist. The ball came smoothly out of hand, making the batters play false shots one after another.
Rollercoaster recovery progression of Mohammed Shami
Since the last 50-over World Cup final, there have been multiple reports on the recovery of Shami. The right-arm pacer was included in the India squad for their South Africa tour but was ruled out at the last moment. A successful surgery on his right Achilles tendon kept him away from the five-match red-ball home series against England, followed by the IPL 2024.
Expectations grew around his potential return during the T20 World Cup 2024. But, that too didn’t happen. Later, he was supposed to be part of one of the five Test matches at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand. But on the eve of the opening five-day game against the Kiwis, Rohit Sharma confirmed a new knee injury for the 34-year-old.
Four weeks later, Shami missed out on the squad for the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. He recently made his comeback in first-class cricket.
Mohammed Shami earns rewards on return
The veteran must have erased the doubts after claiming 4/54 in 19 overs in the first innings to help Bengal gain a vital 61-run lead. The game was neither televised or streamed. One could hardly see the rhythm the pacer was bowling with, but the videos on social media portrayed the perfect picture.
According to ESPNcricinfo, Bengal were advised to keep caution in handling Shami’s workload and not provide him long spells. Every single delivery was keenly observed by Nitin Patel, the head of the Centre of Excellence’s medical panel. He and his team have been asked to submit the report of the pacer’s progress to the national selectors and the team management.
The Bengal camp seemed to be the happiest with the return of their premier pacer. Their captain, Anustup Majumdar, revealed how the pacer himself asked for the ball to break the partnership between Rajat Patidar and Subhranshu Senapati.
“It seemed like a big partnership was happening, but Shami asked me for the ball and said he wanted to bowl a new spell from the following over. It didn't seem to me that he was returning from an injury,” Majumdar told ESPNcricinfo at the end of the second day’s play.
A video released by the BCCI disclosed the usual run-up of Shami, causing trouble for batters with both the inside and outside edges. MP captain Shubham Sharma dragged onto the stumps. Saransh Jain was squared up against the late movement, while Kumar Kartikeya nicked behind. The hosts lost the last nine wickets for just 61 runs after enjoying a dream start to 106/1.
“Someone has come back after one year and has bowled 19 overs and taken so many wickets. What's there to say? He came into the match without doing any match simulation. Can you imagine? But obviously, if he plays more, he will get better,” Bengal coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla expressed his surprise at the incredible return of Shami.
In the second innings, he picked up three wickets and fittingly carried Bengal over the line for an 11-run victory. The most encouraging news for the selectors would be the 43.2 overs Shami bowled without any concern across four days.
Shami eyes flight to Australia
With around five days to go between the end of the ongoing Ranji fixture and the start of the BGT, Mohammed Shami isn’t expected to play the opening game in Perth. The race is for Adelaide. Under lights, the pink ball tends to swing, and the veteran has all the skills to make life tough for the Australia batters.
In eight red-ball games down under, the fast bowler has picked up 31 wickets at an average of 32.16. His strike rate of 54.2 with a couple of five-wicket hauls is a decent record to have. Marnus Labuschagne has been dismissed thrice by Mohammed Shami in Tests at an average of just 21.2. Travis Head has also gotten out thrice against the India pacer.
All these numbers are crucial. As of now, Jasprit Bumrah is going to shoulder the responsibility of India’s bowling department. With Shami’s return, he will have some respite from the attention. The former India head coach, Ravi Shastri, also wants to see the return of the Bengal bowler.
“If anything, I would have wanted a little more support for Jasprit in the pace-bowling attack. So, (if) the quicker Mohammed Shami gets fit and is on a flight, I think it’s better for India,” Shastri shed light on the recent episode of ICC Review.
With the start of the white-ball domestic season for India, the pacer won’t have any red-ball fixture to prove match preparation. The wait starts to see if he could be on a plane to Australia. His eyes will be on the three-day warm-up fixture against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra before the second Test in Adelaide.
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