Indian fast bowler Mohammed Shami recently shared that he is uncertain about his return to international cricket. The bowler has not played since the 2023 ODI World Cup because of an ankle injury. He had surgery in February and has been working on his recovery at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to get back in shape.
At a recent event in Kolkata, Shami mentioned that he doesn’t know when he will be able to play for the national team again. However, he plans to first play for his local team, Bengal, to get ready for his international comeback.
Shami said, “It’s hard to say when I’ll be back. I’m working hard, but you might see me play for Bengal before I wear the India jersey again. I’ll play a few matches for Bengal and be fully prepared for them.”
Recently, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah mentioned that the fast bowler is expected to recover in time for the home series against Bangladesh. India is scheduled to play a two-match Test series against Bangladesh starting on September 19, followed by three T20 matches.
Additionally, the 33-year-old player stated that he didn’t anticipate his injury to be so severe. Shami explained that he intended to deal with it only after the T20 World Cup. However, the injury worsened during the ODI World Cup.
“We didn’t expect the injury to be this serious. Our plan was to handle it after the T20 World Cup since we had the IPL and the ICC T20 major event happening one after the other following last year’s World Cup. But it got worse during the ODI World Cup, and I also felt it wasn’t right to continue playing with it. Even the doctors didn’t realize that the injury would become so serious and take so long to heal,” he added.
Shami had an outstanding performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup, ending up as the top bowler with 24 wickets taken over seven matches. He didn’t play in India’s first four games, but when all-rounder Hardik Pandya got hurt, Shami got his chance in the team. In the semi-final, he set a record for the best bowling performance by an Indian in ODIs, taking 7 wickets for 57 runs against New Zealand. Shami’s skills will be very important for the team when they play in the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia in 2024-25 later this year.
