Wicketless on his first day after returning to competitive cricket, Mohammed Shami, in less than 24 hours, did what he does best — taking wickets.
In his 10 overs on Day I of the ongoing Ranji Trophy game for Bengal against Madhya Pradesh in Indore, the senior India pacer conceded 34 runs bowling just one maiden over, which came in the second of his two spells on Wednesday. He bowled “reasonably well,” was the feedback then from the Bengal camp.
On Thursday at the Holkar Stadium, Shami bowled nine overs across two spells and, more importantly, picked up four wickets to finish with figures of 19-4-54-4 which gained Bengal a 61-run first-innings lead. Running through the Madhya Pradesh lower order in his second spell, Shami had earlier cleaned up the home team captain Shubham Sharma, who has a double-hundred and a century this season.
For sure, on a pace-friendly pitch in Indore, Shami had a much better outing compared to his first day on return. Also, he got those wickets before national selector Ajay Ratra, who’s in Indore keeping a close watch on the game along with National Cricket Academy (NCA) medical team head Nitin Patel, who’s monitoring Shami’s condition and fitness-related matters.
But the most important question that needs to be answered is whether Shami is 100 per cent fit to be a part of a gruelling contest. Even though the ongoing game for Bengal is a multi-day affair, there’s still a big difference between these matches and the rigours of Test cricket.
“Of course, Shami looked much sharper today (Thursday) and obviously, bowled better as well. Besides, he was on the field throughout the opponents’ innings and wasn’t off the ground even once.
“For a fast bowler who has returned after a year, which is a long time, you do need to make a few considerations. But all said and done, he looked in far better rhythm today (Thursday),” Bengal head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla told The Telegraph later in the evening.
How Shami finishes this game in Indore will be a significant aspect in determining his prospects of joining the Team India squad in Australia. If he bowls without any trouble in the second innings and remains pain-free, that should call for a positive report from the NCA and brighten his hopes of reaching Australia by the time India play their pink-ball tour match against Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on November 30 and December 1.
That tour match will take place before the second Test in Adelaide which starts on December 6, a pink-ballday-night affair. “Even atthis stage, the earliest Shami can play in Australia is from the third Test (in Brisbane from December 14),” said a BCCI official.