Shami to make competitive return in Ranji Trophy match against MP

Kolkata: In a major boost for India ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia later this month, pacer Mohammed Shami is set to make his competitive cricket comeback for Bengal against Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match in Indore starting on Wednesday. Shami will spearhead the Bengal pace attack against Madhya Pradesh. Bengal, who are currently in the fifth spot in the points table with 8 points from 4 games, bagged three crucial points from their last match against Karnataka. The senior pacer has fully recovered from the injury that ruled him out for more than a year. He last featured for India in the ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad last November. Earlier, IANS reported Shami’s return to competitive cricket against Madhya Pradesh after missing the match against Karnataka. Shami, who’s taken 229 wickets in 64 Tests, bowled in the Indian team nets to Shubman Gill and a padded-up assistant coach Abhishek Nayar at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium after they lost the Test series opener to New Zealand by eight wickets on October 20. Last month, Shami said at a promotional event that he was 100 percent pain-free and had expressed his keen interest in playing a few domestic matches. It will be interesting to see if Shami will be available for the Indian team through the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at Brisbane, starting from December 14. However, he was not named in the five-Test squad announced by the BCCI last month. In the ODI World Cup 2023, despite not playing in India’s initial matches, Shami picked 24 wickets at an average of 10.70 to be the leading wicket-taker in the competition. He then successfully underwent surgery on February 26 in London this year for solving his right achilles tendon problem and has been at the NCA since then for rehabilitation and recovery programme, followed by a recent gradual return to bowling. Shami had played a pivotal role in India’s first-ever Test series win in Australia in 2018/19, where he picked 16 wickets in four matches at an average of 26.18. Though he didn’t play after the first Test in Adelaide in the 2020/21 tour due to a fractured right forearm, India managed to secure an unforgettable 2-1 triumph. –IANS