By Ian Omoro

It will take Mohammed Shami a little longer to return to the national squad, even though he was close to doing so. The right knee of the Indian pacer has reportedly flared up due to some apparent damage to his leg.

Following an outstanding performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup, Shami had surgery to treat his injuries, and he has been recuperating ever since. The supporters were all concerned by a recent development, even though it was anticipated that the famous pacer would return to national duty for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy match against Australia in November of this year.

 He’s been working hard to become better despite his absence, and he recently stated that he wants to make a gradual comeback. His comeback date might be somewhat delayed, though, due to the current knee injury.

“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,” the Times of India newspaper quoted a BCCI source.

“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 National Cricket Academy medical staff has been devotedly working on Shami’s recovery for more than a year; this latest development is a setback.

Ascertaining the degree of the harm and investigating treatment possibilities are the present tasks of the BCCI medical team. India’s next trip to Australia may be significantly impacted by the injury.

Shami’s return was originally scheduled to occur sometime around the October 16–20 New Zealand series. This would have allowed him to get some playing time before heading out on the Australian tour.

India may be forced to rely largely on younger players like Akash Deep, Yash Dayal, Arshdeep Singh, and Mukesh Kumar due to Shami’s absence.