'Grinding for the greatest' - Mohammed Shami back at nets to gear up for India comeback

Ace India pacer Mohammed Shami is back in training at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. He finished as the leading wicket-taker in the ODI World Cup 2023 and since then, the 33-year-old has been out with injury. He missed a key series against England at home and also was out of the IPL and the T20 World Cup. BCCI secretary Jay Shah previously confirmed that the cricketer is likely to return in the series against Bangladesh and keeping that in mind, he has started training.

In a video shared by Shami, he was spotted jogging before bowling, indicating that the pacer is yet to regain complete fitness. He wasn’t looking to bowl fast as the main objective was to hit the right line and length. He shared the video on Instagram, captioning, “Vibing with the latest, grinding for the greatest.”

Meanwhile, right after the World Cup, Shami complained of his back heel injury and also underwent surgery under the close observation of BCCI officials and doctors. He was planning to delay the surgery and return to cricket early but the officials decided to go against the idea as the medical team didn’t clear him to return to action.

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Shami’s spot in red-ball cricket is untouchable at the moment as the goal is to help him regain momentum before the key five-match Test series against Australia later in the year. However, his spot in white-ball cricket is not yet confirmed. Under new head coach Gautam Gambhir, India can look to back young pacers keeping the next T20 World Cup and ODI World Cup 2027 in mind. In that case, Shami’s spot in white-ball cricket may be under threat.

In the absence of Shami, team India backed Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep in the longest format. However, he is likely to pair with Bumrah going forward and Siraj is expected to be the third pacer.