India pacer Mohammed Shami's return to the national team has been delayed by some more time after being named in Bengal's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy squad, where he will begin his campaign against Punjab on Saturday, November 23 in Rajkot. He made a brilliant return to competitive cricket last week in the Ranji Trophy and will now look to make a mark in the limited-overs tournament.
According to a report in PTI, Shami’s inclusion in the Bengal T20 team is part of a fitness assessment ahead of a potential return to India’s team for the latter half of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy five-Test series starting in Perth on Friday.
Playing his first competitive game after a year, Shami, who underwent surgery for Achilles tendon injury on his left leg, bagged a match haul of seven wickets and excelled with the bat as well against Madhya Pradesh to help Bengal secure their first victory of the season.
Excellent comeback 💥@MdShami11 bowled an impressive spell of 4/54 on his comeback, playing for Bengal against Madhya Pradesh in the #RanjiTrophy match in Indore 👌👌Watch 📽️ highlights of his spell in the first innings 🔽@IDFCFIRSTBankScorecard: https://t.co/54IeDz9fWupic.twitter.com/sxKktrQJbL
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) November 14, 2024
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According to the PTI report, the BCCI medical team and the selection committee led by former Indian cricketer Ajit Agarkar want Shami to play some more competitive matches in SMAT to check if his body is doing fine after multiple matches even if it is a limited-overs tournament.
SMAT will finish on Sunday, December 15. If Bengal reach the finals and Shami plays all the games, he will only be available for the fourth and penultimate Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, i.e. the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
Shami's last international appearance was exactly a year ago, in the finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup in Ahmedabad against Australia, which India lost. He then went on a lengthy break, which included rehab from the surgery.
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Although Shami looked very close to his best in the Ranji Trophy game, it needs to be seen when the national selectors think it is the right time to get him back into the team.