Shami Shines In Return To Cricket After A Year: Indian pacer Mohammed Shami has had a fantastic return to competitive cricket as he took a four-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy in his return match for Bengal.
Bengal is taking on Madhya Pradesh in the Elite Group C match in Indiore’s Holkar Stadium. MP won the toss and decided to bowl first. So, on Day One, Bengal scored 228 runs on a wicket that was not the easiest to bat on.
But most fans watching this match were waiting for Madhya Pradesh’s batting just because that would be Shami’s first time bowling in a long time.
The 34-year-old last played cricket at the highest level in the 2023 Cricket World Cup. In that tournament, Shami had one of the greatest World Cup outings for bowlers ever. Having not played in the first four matches of that competition and only getting in the squad after Hardik Panya’s injury, he took 24 wickets in seven games with an average of 10.7. He even took a seven-wicket haul in the semi-final against New Zealand.
But since the final against Australia on November 19, 2023, he has not played a single match. In February 2024, Shami underwent surgery on his right heel after suffering an injury in his Achilles tendon.
The ace-pacer was initially expected to make his Ranji return at the start of the season in October, but some complications regarding his recovery, which was being done in the National Cricket Academy (NCA), saw his return timeline be pushed back a month.
Shami Shines In Return To Cricket After A Year
But now, having made his return to professional cricket, Mohammed Shami has come out with all guns blazing. While chasing a first-inning score of 228, Madhya Pradesh got off to a decent start in their inning. After scoring 109 runs at the fall of three wickets, MP was expected to take the lead in the first inning.
But then came Shami, who tore through the opposition’s middle and lower order. He first bowled MP captain Shubham Sharma. He then took the final three wickets of the inning, of Kumar Kartikeya, Saransh Jain, and Kulwant Khejroliya. Madhya Pradesh was all out for 167 as Bengal took a 61-run lead.
Shami ended the inning with the fine figures of 4/54, almost exactly a year after his seven-wicket haul in the World Cup semi-final.
🚨 MOHAMMAD SHAMI PICKED 4/54 UPON HIS RETURN TO CRICKET AFTER 360 DAYS…!!! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/PRB3lBHhVs
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 14, 2024
While the Indian Cricket Team has announced their squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, if Shami returns to full fitness, he might be brought back into the squad for the latter Test matches in Australia.
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