Pacer Mohammed Shami's return to cricket has been delayed due to his recovery from ankle surgery, excluding him from India's squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India's star pacer Mohammed Shami's return has been further delayed. The Bengal cricketer's plan was to return to international cricket by playing Ranji Trophy. However, the the right-arm quick has not fully recovered from the injury. The 34-year-old has not been included in the Bengal team for fourth and fifth Ranji Trophy matches. Bengal team coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla had also revealed that Shami was interested in playing Ranji matches ahead of the Border Gavaskar Trophy series. There were also reports that he would be included in the national team for Australia tour if he proved his fitness. Nevertheless, this is a setback for India.
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The pacer was excluded from the Indian team for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy due to his ankle injury. Now Shami has been dropped from the Bengal team, which will play against Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. The experienced speedster last played for India in the 2023 ODI World Cup. Later, he underwent surgery in his ankle. Shami had apologized to his fans and the BCCI for not being fit in time for the upcoming five-match Test series against Australia.
Recently, the star shared a video of himself training in the gym. Shami clarified that he is working every day to achieve bowling fitness and will soon return to play domestic red-ball cricket. There were indications that he would return to the Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand at home, but his knee swelled up. It was after this that the return was delayed.
Bengal team for the fourth and fifth matches of the Ranji Trophy: Anustup Majumdar (capt), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Sudip Chatterjee, Sudip Gharami, Shahbaz Ahmed, Writtick Chatterjee, Avilin Ghosh, Shuvam Dey, Shakir Habib Gandhi, Pradipta Pramanik, Aamir Gani, Ishan Porel, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mohammed Kaif, Rohit Kumar, Rishav Vivek.
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