Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Star India pacer Mohammed Shami delivered a brilliant display of seam bowling in the Ranji Trophy Group C fixture against Madhya Pradesh for Bengal in the first innings. Shami bowled in tight areas and his discipline combined with pace helped Bengal topple the Madhya Pradesh batting unit. He clocked impressive figures of 4/54 in 19 overs with an economy of 2.80.
His wickets included crucial dismissals in the form of Madhya Pradesh (MP) skipper Shubham Sharma and lower-order batters Saransh Jain and Kumar Kartikeya. Bengal were bowled out for 228 in the first innings but their bowlers came with a strong response and cleaned up Madhya Pradesh on 167. Thus, Bengal had a lead of 61 runs at lunch on Day 2.
The 34-year-old played his last international game last year when he featured in the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Shami sustained an ankle injury and went under the knife in February. Since then he has been recovering at the Nationa Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
Shami was expected to be back on the field with the Test series against New Zealand last month. However, he suffered from a swollen knee which put his chances to play in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in jeopardy.
The right-arm pacer was expected to play against Karnataka in the tournament but was ruled out from the fixture due to a side strain. That hampered his chances of getting a late entry into the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
According to some media reports, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is still monitoring Shami’s situation and they might try to get a later entry for him in the series against Australia.
