'Will Mohammed Shami be back?' - Aakash Chopra questions BCCI over Mohammed Shami's treatment

The Indian team have shown their dominance in the T20I series against England so far as they currently lead the series by 2-0. However, there are still questions being asked regarding premier pacer Mohammed Shami’s fitness despite making the squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy which will be starting in February he is yet to play an international match. 

Pacer Arshdeep Singh led the pace battery in the first two games ahead of Shami in the ongoing white-ball series. There are a lot of experts even questioning the management on how they are handling the 34-year-old pacer who has not featured in an international match since 2023. Former cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra also questioned the management over Mohammed Shami once again and mentioned the lack of playing time Shami has been getting just before the ICC event which will be played in Pakistan and Dubai. 

“Will Mohammed Shami be back? That's the biggest thought. At some stage, he has to play. This month is about to get over, it's the 28th and then you have one more match, but your T20 series will be more than half done by this evening, so if Mohammed Shami doesn't play now also, what is the actual status? The truth is that Shami needs to play. If Shami doesn't play, I am personally worried. It's not that the Champions Trophy is starting tomorrow but he hasn't played for 15 months," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

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“We are a broken record. We are repeatedly saying, no issues, next match, but the truth is that he will only get ready if he plays international cricket. As it's said, you can only extract pure gold from gold by heating it. If Shami is not playing at all, at some stage, you will start wondering what the status is," Chopra concluded.  

Shami has led Team India's pace arsenal for long time

Speaking of Mohammed Shami’s record in white ball cricket he has played 101 ODI matches and 23 T20Is with 195 wickets in 50-over matches at an average of 23.68 and 24 wickets in the shortest format at an average of 29.62 and an economy of 8.94.