The BCCI has been monitoring closely the fitness status as concerns Mohammed Shami. The right-arm pacer has made a return to competitive cricket after quite a long injury break. He could not play India’s ongoing tour of Australia due to his injury but recovered to become fit and was thus part of Bengal’s squad for a Ranji Trophy match. He plays at the moment with the state side, as he has already participated in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy-a domestic T20 tournament.
The seesawing fitness of Shami is proving to be a critical factor in BCCI’s plans of bringing him into the 5-match Test series that India is currently playing against Australia. As reported by Cricbuzz, a team from the BCCI Sports Science department and a national selector have camped in Rajkot to keep a close watch upon the pacer. After the clearance from the Sports Science Department, the BCCI will deliberate on including Shami in India’s Test squad, the report added.
On the game front, Shami set up Bengal’s comfortable win against Meghalaya with a measly spell in their Group A contest in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy in Rajkot on Sunday.
Meanwhile, in Group A, Naman Dhir returned great figures of 5/19 to fashion Punjab’s narrow seven-run win against Hyderabad, while Jharkhand triumphed in a thrilling one-wicket win over Haryana, with Harshal Patel (2/16) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/13) shining with the ball.
Shami, sorely missed, on his return, would take strides to show exactly what impact he may have on the rest of the line-up, as he delivered an enterprising spell of 4-0-16-0, forcing Bengal to restrain Meghalaya to a paltry 127 for six.
The victory margin was six wickets with 49 deliveries remaining at the Niranjan Shah Stadium.
Arien Sangma (37) and Larry Sangma (38) staged a recovery with bats for the Meghalaya team.
In response, Bengal began stumbling as three of their batters were out for ducks but the runs were collected for the innings by Abhisek Porel’s blazing effort of 61 off just 31 balls, which featured nine fours and two sixes, coupling with Writtick Chatterjee’s 25 not out, to carry the side over the mark.
