The quick was spotted with some protection on his knee but nearly hit full tilt towards the end of his training session
Mohammed Shami took part in India’s training session with his knee strapped • AFP/Getty Images
Mohammed Shami‘s bowling was the focus of India’s first training session in Kolkata ahead of their T20I series against England that gets underway on January 22.
Shami, who has not played international cricket since the 2023 ODI World Cup final, bowled for over an hour with his knee strapped, with bowling coach Morne Morkel keeping a close eye on his progress. Shami had not been considered for any part of the Border-Gavaskar Test series, despite having fully recovered from his ankle surgery, because of swelling on his knee.
On Sunday, Shami began by marking a spot on a good-length area on the practice pitches, and then warmed up by bowling with a half run-up for more than 20 minutes. Later, he bowled with his full run-up to openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma in the nets. In between, he practiced short- and long-range catching with fielding coach T Dilip and head coach Gautam Gambhir. After the net sessions ended, Shami closed the evening out with a ten-minute spell of bowling on the practice pitches. By the time his session wound down, Shami was bowling at nearly full tilt.
The fitness of Shami, 34, has been a concern for India for more than 12 months, and now he has been selected for the upcoming T20Is and ODIs against England to test his readiness for the Champions Trophy, which will begin on February 19 in Karachi. India will open their campaign against Bangladesh the next day in Dubai.
Shami is expected to lead the seam attack in the five T20Is and three ODIs against England, with Jasprit Bumrah likely to return and test his own fitness only in the third ODI on February 12 ahead of the Champions Trophy.
Shami was one of two fast bowlers from the squad seen at training, alongside Harshit Rana; Arshdeep Singh was not seen at Sunday’s session.
Rana and Hardik Pandya were the only two members of the squad who batted and bowled. Hardik also did some power-hitting with Rinku Singh and Dhruv Jurel, while Rinku and Tilak Varma largely faced the spin of Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sundar.
Rajan Raj is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo Hindi
