In the upcoming season of the Ranji Trophy, senior Team India pace bowler Mohammed Shami is expected to come back into competitive cricket by playing for his state side Bengal. If everything goes well, he might also return to international cricket during the Test series against New Zealand.
Due to his injuries, Shami has been out of action ever since the conclusion of the 2023 ODI World Cup held in India. In February this year, an operation was performed for him by repair to the Achilles tendon on the right arm’s pacer side. In recent weeks, constant updates concerning recovery and rehabilitation have been shared on his official Facebook page by the 33-year-old player.
As per a report from PTI, Shami could be participating in Bengal’s opening away Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh starting October 11. Right after that, they will play another domestic competition match with Bihar from October 18 in Kolkata.
According to another report, as there are only a two-day gap between those two contests; it means that he will not have a chance to appear at both events simultaneously. Therefore he may feature in either one out of them.
Mohammed Shami is likely to make a comeback to competitive cricket for his domestic side Bengal in the Ranji Trophy and a potential international appearance later in one of the Test matches against New Zealand. (PTI) pic.twitter.com/dWBLiNGPEL
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) August 18, 2024
Nevertheless, in Bengaluru, India will face New Zealand on October 16th and due to that Pune will host the second Test match from 24th October onwards, whereas the third and last Test starts from November 1st in Mumbai. Shami in supposed to participate in one of the three tests against Kiwis before heading out for Australia.
Mohammed Shami had an outstanding performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup
The World Cup in India was quite an event until Shami was injured later in the year. His absence from early matches didn’t stop him from being the highest wicket-taker of the tournament. The bowler from Bengal claimed 24 wickets at an average of 10.71 from only seven games and took three five-fors.
Fast bowler Shami started on a high note as he obtained 5-54 against New Zealand during the league stage only to follow up with 4-22 over England before finally wrapping it up with a 5-18 against Sri Lanka during the semi-final match played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, where he established figures of 7-57 against Kiwis.
In total, Shami has played 101 ODI matches where he took 195 wickets, meaning 23.68 wickets on average. He has played 64 Test matches and taken 229 wickets with an average of 27.71. This right-arm fast bowler has also claimed 24 wickets in his 23 T20I matches at an average of 29.62.
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