Shami’s first ball, on his return to T20Is after more than two years, was a bit looser, but it had the trademark Shami seam position and shape. The ball swung a mile but didn’t bounce. Pahil Salt had a mighty heave but the ball swung away from him and reached the keeper. Seeing the ball bounce once before reaching Sanju Samson’s gloves, India captain Suryakumar Yadav decided to take the slip out.

Rajkot is not the best place for bowlers, but Shami was no stranger to difficult situations. After missing international cricket for more than 14 months, he would have gobbled up any opportunity, and so he did, as India decided to rest Arshdeep Singh for the third T20I against England.

For his second ball, Shami tried to correct his line. He brought it closer to the right-hander. Salt once again went at with hard hands and somehow managed to get it straight past the bowler for a boundary. It was by no means convincing and Shami knew it. For the next four balls, Shami kept Salt guessing. he mixed it up with an in-dipper and an away-going delivery till the right-hander managed to get off strike on the fifth ball. The last ball of the over also resulted in a single, this time from Ben Duckett’s bat.

In the next over, Shami had England’s captain and arguably their batter, Jos Buttler, in front of him. He bowled a beautiful outswinger to beat Buttler all ends up. There was even a muted appeal from the Indians. Sunil Gavaskar, who was at the commentary box at that time, was bamboozled by Shami’s seam position. “Oh! Look at the seam position, just shaping away and ramrod straight, lovely,” said Gavaskar raving at Shami’s class.

The 34-year-old conceded a four and a six in his next five deliveries before being taken off the attack. He conceded 15 runs in his first two overs in his first T20I since the T20 World Cup semi-final against the same opposition in 2022.

Shami was brought back for another over towards the backend of the England innings. His first ball was dabbed fine by Adil Rashid for a boundary. The veteran pacer went for the yorker in the next delivery but missed his mark completely and ended up bowling a beamer. The umpire gave him a warning for that above-the-waist full toss. It, however did not cost India much as Shami didn’t give any boundaries for his next five deliveries. He returned with figures of 3/25 in his three overs.

More than the wickets or the runs he concedes, what would keep the Indian team management interested is how Shami goes about his business in this and the upcoming T20Is he plays against England.

With question marks over Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness and Mohammed Siraj’s non-selection, Shami becomes the automatic leader of India’s pace attack for the Champions Trophy. He was picked for these five T20Is and the three ODIs to follow in order to get some much-needed overs under his belt. It was, therefore, a bit of a surprise when India didn’t pick him for the first two matches of this series.

The 34-year-old returned to competitive cricket last year after recovering from an ankle injury. He played for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy.

However, these domestic performances weren’t enough for the selectors to pick him for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.