Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25: Bengal rest Mohammed Shami for tournament opener against Delhi

Star India pacer Mohammed Shami will be skipping the first game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Delhi. It was revealed that Bengal have decided to rest Shami for the upcoming fixture. Notably, the game is slated to take place on Saturday, December 21, in Hyderabad.

Hence in the wake of this decision, the probable comeback of the Amroha-based bowler in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25) looks quite murky. Shami had an Ankle surgery after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup. Since then, he has been on the road to recovery and was expected to feature for Team India during the Australia tour. 

The Bengal team is set to start their season in the List A tournament with some great players in the mix. However, Shami missed a lot of games this season due to a knee injury. As a result, he did not travel to Australia for the BGT 2024-25 series.

Besides, in the same regard, India Skipper Rohit Sharma during a press conference revealed that though Shami was playing a lot of cricket back home, he was still struggling with knee swelling. Currently, the pacer is still being monitored by the Centre of Excellence (NCA) and the Indian team is yet to get a clearance from the concerned officials for Shami's return to international cricket.

Comeback in BGT looking bleak

Mohammed Shami started his comeback phase by playing for Bengal in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT 2024). However, recent developments regarding his knee have seemingly dented his India comeback chances. Now given that there are still some days left for the upcoming fourth aka 'Boxing Day" Test to start, Shami might still have the chance to recover fully just in time to step out in the field in Melbourne.

Also Read: Manish Pandey excluded from Karnataka’s Vijay Hazare Trophy squad

Besides, there were also reports emerging that the leading wicket-taker of the 2023 World Cup may now target the white-ball formats with the Champions Trophy 2025 and the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) to mark his much-awaited comeback into the high-intensity cricket.