New Delhi:India's pace spearhead Mohammed Shami has refuted reports of him being unavailable for the the highly anticipated five-match Border-Gavaskar Test series against Australia down under, starting from November 22, 2024.
In a series on X, Shami said, "Why these type of baseless rumors? I'm working hard and trying my level best to recover. Neither the BCCI nor me have mentioned that I am out of the Border Gavaskar series. I request the public to stop paying attention to such news from unofficial sources. Please stop and don’t spread such fake fake fake & fake news, especially without my statement. #fakenews#stoprumors#rehab."
Shami, who last played for India in the 2023 ODI World Cup final, was recovering from an injury, but the recent update on his comeback has been very concerning.
A Times Of India report had stated that Shami has developed "swollen knees" while undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and there are chances he could be out for another six to eight weeks.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) in Australia, which starts on November 22 in Perth. He has been under NCA's rehab programme since undergoing an Achilles tendon surgery in February. He had resumed bowling in the nets and constantly posted videos on his official social media handles to give an update on his injury. Notably, the 34-year-old was expected to join the Bengal Ranji Trophy team to feature in the prestigious domestic tournament starting October 11.
"Shami had resumed bowling and he was looking on track to make a comeback to competitive cricket soon. But this knee injury has flared up recently. BCCI's medical team is assessing the injury but it may require quite a bit of time," a BCCI source told TOI.
Shami had endured a major knee injury during the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia. He was looked after by the current head of the BCCI medical team Nitin Patel. "It's a jolt for the NCA medical team. They have been working on him for over a year. They have one of the best workload management systems in place. The medical team is trying its best to put him back in the park soon," the source said.
However, it has been observed that India's team management constantly ensures that bowlers, especially the pacers get the proper rest to manage their workload of the premier fast bowlers, namely Jasprit Bumrah and Shami. They were expected to lead the attack in Australia but in the recent past, neither Bumrah nor Shami have played five Test matches on the bounce.
