Will Mohammed Shami play in Border Gavaskar Trophy at all? That is one big question in the minds of all Indian cricket team followers as the side gets down to action against Australia from Friday in Perth. Mohammed Shami, 2023 ODI World Cup's highest wicket-taker, suffered several injury setbacks before he made a comeback into the Ranji Trophy a few days ago, where he played for Bengal. That performance raised hopes that Shami may be on the flight to Australia next.
However, Shami has now been named in Bengal's squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, which starts from November 23. Bengal play Punjab on November 23. The India vs Australia series starts a day before.
Earlier, a report in news agency PTI, Mohammed Shami's international comeback might take place in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but it could happen during the second half of the series. Those privy to developments said BCCI medical team and national selectors want Shami to play a few more competitive games in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to check if his body is holding up after multiple games even if it's a white ball format tournament.
“Bengal team for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will be selected tomorrow. If Shami is not going for Border Gavaskar Trophy, I believe he will be available for Bengal,” head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla told PTI.
It is understood that the selection committee doesn't want to take chances by fast-tracking Shami after just one Ranji Trophy match having completed an extensive rehabilitation programme.
However, Shami, who appeared in a competitive match after a year, was impressive in his outing for Bengal against Madhya Pradesh at Indore, returning with a seven-wicket match haul in his side's first victory of the season.
Squad Sudip Kumar Gharami (C), Abishek Porel (wk), Sudip Chatterjee, Shahbaz Ahmed, Karan Lal, Writtick Chatterjee, Ritwick Roy Chowdhury, Shakir Habib Gandhi (wk), Ranjot Singh Khaira, Prayas Ray Barman, Agniv Pan (wk), Pradipta Pramanik, Saksham Chaudhary, Mohammed Shami, Ishan Porel, Mohammed Kaif, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Sayan Ghosh, Kanishk Seth and Soummyadip Mandal.