File photo of Mohammed Shami
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) continues to put a close look on the fitness of Mohammed Shami, who has made a comeback to competitive cricket after a long-standing injury. The right-arm pacer was not named for India’s ongoing tour of Australia due to his injury before he recovered and became available for Bengal to play a Ranji Trophy game. Shami continues to play for the state side, now in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – a domestic T20 tournament.
The BCCI is keen to include Shami for India’s ongoing five-match Test series against Australia, but a lot depends on the fitness of the pacer. As per a report in Cricbuzz, a team from the BCCI Sports Science department and a national selector are currently camping in Rajkot to closely monitor the fast bowler. The BCCI will consider about including Shami in India’s Test squad only after he gets a clearance from the Sports Science Department, the report added.
On the game front, Shami set up Bengal’s comfortable win against Meghalaya with a measly spell in their Group A contest in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy in Rajkot on Sunday.
Elsewhere, Naman Dhir returned excellent figures of 5/19 to fashion Punjab’s narrow seven-run win against Hyderabad in Group A, while Jharkhand recorded a thrilling one-wicket victory against Haryana in which Harshal Patel (2/16) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/13) shone with the ball.
Shami continued to take giant strides in his comeback trail as he produced a sharp spell of 4-0-16-0 to help Bengal restrict Meghalaya to a modest 127 for six.
Bengal won by six wickets and 49 balls to spare at the Niranjan Shah Stadium.
Arien Sangma (37) and Larry Sangma (38) staged a recovery for Meghalaya with the bat.
In reply, Bengal stuttered when three of their batters got out for ducks but Abhisek Porel’s 31-ball 61, with nine fours and two sixes, combined with Writtick Chatterjee’s 25 not out, took them past the target.
(With PTI Inputs)
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