Kolkata: When Mohammed Shami breaks into his famous chugging run-up at the Eden Gardens against England in the first T20 International of a new series on January 22, it will be a homecoming of sorts for the tough-as-nails customer. This is the venue where the journey began for one of the most enduring names in the history of Indian pace bowlers for his adopted state Bengal and it could well be the home stretch in the career of the 34-year-old.
For someone in his mid-thirties, with the knees and ankle ravaged by surgeries, it has not been easy for the ‘Amroha Express’ to claw back into international cricket after a gap of nearly 14 months. For the last two months when the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was going on, ‘the will he, won’t he over the issue’ of Shami joining the squad Down Under kept doing the rounds till it became clear towards the end that he would not be joining the squad after all. The lack of transparency over the status of Shami to answer to his country’s call created a lot of confusion – with expectations rising and ebbing once he returned to competitive cricket in the Ranji Trophy and then again Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The BCCI decided against eventually flying the fast bowler as they felt he needed “more time for controlled exposure to bowling loads.”
Now that he is back, the million dollar question is whether Shami will be in the frame for all three formats of the game – what with a ODI series against England to follow and the ICC Champions Trophy coming up in just over a month’s time? A learned guess on the subject is while he will be eased into the international arena for a test of his match fitness but will eventually not play in all five T20Is. The decision-makers will be keen to have him go full tilt in the Champions Trophy and more importantly, in the new cycle of World Test Championship (WTC) against England in June-July.
A week down the line after the Australians drove the last nail into India’s coffin at the SCG, the what-ifs about the fate of the series if Shami had been around still does the rounds.
The absence of the veteran as the main support cast of Jasprit Bumrah was felt acutely as the latter ploughed a lonely furrow and Ravi Shastri, who was at the helm of India’s last two triumphs in Australia – felt the situation could have been handled better.