Bengaluru: India skipper Rohit Sharma provided a fresh update on Mohammed Shami’s recorvery and said it is difficult to make a call on the senior pacer’s return to the mix for the Border Gavaskar Trophy as he had developed a “swelling on his knee”, which “put him back a little bit in his recovery”.
Shami suffered an injury during last year’s ODI World Cup and had undergone surgery. The 34-year-old quick was India’s highest wicket-taker with 24 wickets in seven matches at an average of 10.70 and strike rate of 12.20 at the marquee tournament. He has not played any form of cricket since the defeat in the final to Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium back on November 19.
“It is pretty difficult for us to make a call on whether he will be fit for this series or the Australia series. He recently had a setback – he had a swelling on his knee, which was quite unusual,” Rohit told reporters, on the eve of India’s first Test against New Zealand, in Bengaluru.
“He was in the process of getting fit, getting close to 100 percent and he had a swelling in his knee. That put him back a little bit in his recovery, so he had to start again fresh. Right now, he is at NCA – he is working with the physios, and the doctors at NCA,” he said.
Shami was included in the Test squad against South Africa last December but his availability was subject to fitness. The BCCI later stated that he had not been cleared by the medical team and the fast bowler was then ruled out of the two Tests.
After the home Test series against New Zealand, the Rohit-led side will head to Australia for the five-match Border Gavaskar Trophy series, and the management don’t want to risk taking Shami to Down Under when he is not 100 percent fit.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed. We want him to be fit; we want him to be 100 percent. More than anything else, we don’t want to bring an undercooked Shami to Australia. That is not going to be the right decision for us. He has not played any cricket for over a year. It is quite tough for a fast bowler to have missed so much of cricket and then suddenly to come out and be at his best. It is not ideal. We will want to give him enough time to recover, and be 100% fit,” the opener added.
Shami underwent a successful surgery on his heel to repair his Achilles tendon in the UK in March this year.
“The physios, the trainers, and the doctors have set a roadmap for him. He is supposed to play a couple of games before he plays international cricket. We will see where he is at after this New Zealand series, and then take a call at what stage of the Australia series he will be fit for us,” said Rohit.
India, who are top of the World Test Championship (WTC) standings, have eight Tests left in the current cycle. After a three-match series against New Zealand, they will travel to Australia for five Tests starting November 22.
–IANS