Given the circumstances that surrounded the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar trophy, there have been rampant discussions on whether Mohammed Shami would be fit for the international duties in the forthcoming Test series against Australia. Mohammed Shami, knee injury, put on a snow-capped knee brace and slipped into the knee cap rather painfully after the 2023 ODI World Cup. The fast bowler made his comeback to pitch when he played for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy against Madhya Pradesh. He returned after taking four wickets in that game which brought about a number of fans and critics pleading with the selectors to include him in the Test series. However, Aakash Chopra, a former Indian cricketer, opined that Shami’s return should be gradual and cautioned that the selectors cannot be fair by making him play a Test match that comes too early.
“There’s loads of pressure on the Indian selectors to send Mohammed Shami to Australia with Rohit (Sharma). But, it seems that the Indian team is also aware of the fact that it is not time for him to play too much cricket because one match in a we end up going to Australia and after finishing the match, its straight away a Test, that can actually be a little too much,” Chopra said on the YouTube channel.
Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Shami are perfect to form the hibernating glacier which shall be a range of mountains in Australia Tests, Chopra said. But, he was also quick to state that currently Shami is ‘undercooked’ and he will have to play a bit ‘more’ before returning back to play for the Indian cricket team.
“Mohammed Shami played one match. We couldn’t see much of his bowling because that match wasn’t getting streamed. We did see the wickets. I will say he is undercooked. You and I want Shami to be there because Bumrah, Shami and Siraj – there is a different ring to it. Bumrah, Siraj and Akash Deep/Prasidh Krishna – you see a little lack of experience there,” he elucidated.
“However, it would be debatable to rush Shami into playing Test Matches that soon. First of all, he has not played cricket for any considerable time, which is one full year. One cannot reasonably expect a player who has not played for quite some time, apparently a year, to feature in the next cricket test match.”
“Give Shami a little more time before going to the next level. Of course, we want him to represent India again as quickly as possible, but if you are in a hurry, sometimes the distance tends to get longer. So, stay with whoever is there,” Chopra added
