Pace maestro Mohammed Shami is knocking on the doors of an India comeback after making a successful return to competitive cricket in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024/25. After missing out on cricketing action for almost a year, Shami is back to business in the domestic arena.
The pacer was picked in the Bengal's team for the fifth round of the Ranji Trophy clash against Madhya Pradesh and he seems to have cleared the fitness test with flying colours.
Shami picked up a seven-wicket match haul in Bengal's 11-run win in the clash that took place in Indore. Shami scalped four wickets in the first innings and then returned with a three-wicket haul in the second innings.
The 34-year-old speedster picked the wickets of Rajat Patidar, Anubhav Agarwal and Kumar Kartikeya in the second essay. He ended the game with the figures of 3/102 in the 338-run defence.
MP were threatening to clinch the game after half-centuries from Shubham Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer and Subhranshu Senapati but the Bengal bowlers kept chipping in with timely wickets. Shahbaz Ahmed got four wickets, while Rohit Kumar also took a snare in the team's win. Fittingly, Shami got the final wicket when he removed Kartikeya to hand the visitors an 11-run win.
Shami had earlier scored 37 runs with the bat in the second innings. He played a strong cameo lower down the order to help Bengal take the target beyond 300. His cameo came off only 36 balls and included two fours and as many sixes.
This performance bodes well for the Indian team, which is currently in Australia for the five-match Border-Gavaskar series. Bengal coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla was also impressed with his comeback. "Someone has come back after one year and has bowled 19 overs and taken so many wickets… what’s there to say?" Shukla had said.
"He came into the match without doing any match simulation. Can you imagine? But obviously, if he plays more, he will get better. He bowled one six-over spell and one five-over spell. Players who bowl in the IPL don’t even know how to bowl more than four overs. He bowled the sort of spells fast bowlers are expected to. I have never seen a fast bowler come back so strongly after one year away. What he did today is like a fairy tale," the coach added.
However, it is still not clear whether he will fly to Australia to play any part in the upcoming Test series.
