Fast bowler Mohammed Shami made a comeback to the Indian team, named for the five-match T20I series against England that begins on January 22 in Kolkata. Shami last played for India in the 2023 World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad, after which he was sidelined because of an ankle injury that needed surgery.
The 34-year-old made a return to cricket for the Ranji Trophy and also played in the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and is playing the ongoing 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy for Bengal. However, he didn’t make it for India’s disastrous tour of Australia because of swelling of the knee on his return to domestic cricket. The national selectors met in Mumbai on Saturday and after receiving a fitness update on Shami picked the fast bowler for the shortest format, The Indian Express understands.
In Shami’s absence, the team didn’t have a second fast bowler other than pace spearhead and stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah to consistently put pressure on the Australian batsmen. Bumrah was named player of the series after picking 32 wickets but missed the third and final day of the fifth Test in Sydney because of an injury. Without Bumrah, Australian batsmen found it easier as they chased down a 162-run target with six wickets to spare. The pace spearhead is also absent from the T20I squad as he deals with a back injury.
Though the selectors didn’t pick Shami initially for the tour of Australia, there was talk of him travelling to Australia at some point in time. Captain Rohit Sharma fielded questions about Shami’s potential availabilIty after Australia beat India by 10-wickets in the second Test match in Adelaide.
“We are just monitoring him because while playing Syed Mushtaq Ali, he got some swelling in his knee, which hampers his preparation to come and play a Test match. We want to be very careful, we don’t want to bring him here, he pulls up sore or something happens. We want to be more than 100% sure with him because it has been a long time. We don’t want to put pressure on him to come here and do the job for the team. There are some professionals monitoring, we will take a call based on what those guys feel,” Rohit had said.
However, the swelling in his knee took time to heal and Shami played no part in the Test series.
A BCCI release on December 23, head of the Boxing Day Test match, had stated: “Based on the current medical assessment, the BCCI medical team has determined that his knee requires more time for controlled exposure to bowling loads. Consequently, he has not been deemed fit for consideration for the remaining two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.”
For the T20 series at home against England, Shami will join a squad that has Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Nitish Reddy and Hardik Pandya as the other seamers.
Jurel, Reddy also selected
The selectors have also opted for Dhruv Jurel as the second wicketkeeper in the squad with the in-form Sanju Samson being the first choice as Rishabh Pant misses out on a spot. Jurel comes in place for Jitesh Sharma. The find of the Test tour to Australia, allrounder, Nitish too is part of the T20 squad.
Samson’s batting has flourished since he moved to the opening slot in T20 Internationals. He has scored three centuries in his last five matches, one against Bangladesh at home — his maiden ton — and two against South Africa in Durban and Johannesburg. Reddy has played three times for India in the shortest format with a top score of 74 off just 34 balls versus Bangladesh in Delhi. Post the Test tour of Australia, he has gained the reputation as an all-format player by scoring two 40s and also a 104 in Melbourne in addition to being a handy medium pacer.
Middle-order batsman Riyan Parag is not part of the squad that will play England because of an injury.
India T20 squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Nitish Reddy, Mohd Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Harisht Rana, Dhruv Jurel, Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakrabarthy and Washington Sundar.
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