Aged 35, Mohammed Shami is at that point in his career where most fast bowlers are winding down from international cricket and looking for a couple of years on the T20 franchise circuit as their legs and body start giving way.
However, this is Shami we are talking about, a veteran Indian speedster who has battled several injuries in his career and bounced back from each of them to star at the highest level. He has been showing plenty of signs that he is at his best with the ball.
Right now, though, Shami’s battle is not with injuries but apparently with gaining the attention of the BCCI selectors, an attention that shouldn’t have wavered in the first place as he finds himself out of the Indian team across formats for more than a year.
Shami has begun the IPL 2026 on a scintillating note for his new franchise, Lucknow Super Giants, giving a reminder to the fans to once again question the selectors about his continuous and unexplained ouster from the Indian Test and ODI teams.
After notable bowling figures of 1/28 in four overs against Delhi Capitals, Shami produced his most economical four-over spell in T20 cricket: 2/9 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, his last IPL team who traded him to LSG.
Shami showed his vast experience in assessing the pitch as quickly as the first over, when he had Abhishek Sharma edging a slower delivery. In his next over, he once again took the pace off and this time had the other SRH opener, Travis Head, chipping to the fielder at mid-off.
Shami bowled four out of the first nine overs in SRH’s innings and finished with excellent figures of 2/9, having broken the back of SRH’s top order.
The early blows from Shami meant SRH finished with an under-par total of 156.
This has made the fans wonder when they actually saw Shami last in India’s colors.
When Was The Last Time Mohammed Shami Played For India In International Cricket?
Mohammed Shami has not played international cricket for India since the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final in March 2025. His last Test match was in June 2023, the ICC WTC Final against Australia.
After the 2023 World Cup final, Shami was out of action for more than a year due to a major heel injury and some other leg issues. He returned in early 2025 to feature in nine white-ball games: two T20Is and two ODIs against England and then five matches in the Champions Trophy.
After that, Shami was omitted from the national side. The selectors said he wasn’t completely fit for Test cricket, but his absence from the ODI team, especially with the 2027 World Cup in South Africa now in sight, is perplexing.
Amid this, Shami proved his fitness for long-form matches by playing for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 season, where he featured in 7 matches and claimed 37 wickets, the second-most by anyone in his team.
Shami also turned up for the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament, ending up as Bengal’s leading wicket-taker with 15 scalps in 7 outings.
Last October, after taking a five-for against Gujarat, Shami had said,
“When you perform like this, it feels good both mentally and physically. Coming out of a difficult phase and performing well gives a lot of satisfaction. The time after the [2023] World Cup was tough and painful.
“But then I played the Ranji Trophy, white-ball cricket, the IPL, Champions Trophy, Duleep Trophy [since his comeback late last year]. Now my rhythm is back to where it was before. I can clearly feel there’s still a lot of cricket left in me.”
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