Litmus test for Shami as Men in Blue hope to end on a high

Mohammed Shami's fitness test at Wankhede Stadium before Champions Trophy, India vs. England T20I series finale.

A series without real context sealed with a game to spare. Despite most of the boxes being ticked, India’s last T20I game of the season at the Wankhede Stadium will be far from being a meaningless affair. After all, the game will be Mohammed Shami’s litmus test to prove his fitness in time for the Champions Trophy, that starts in less than three weeks.

For most of the last 14 months, there has been a cloud over Shami’s return to top-flight cricket after the pacer aggravated his ankle injury during his dream run in the 2023 ODI World Cup. As a result, when he joined the squad for the first time since November, 2023, ahead of the series-opener against England, it was a given that he will not feature in all five T20Is. In fact, the team management wanted to monitor his workload on a daily basis keeping in mind the Champions Trophy.

Having bowled in virtually each of the team’s training session in four venues, Shami donned the match jersey only in Rajkot. He looked good —

although not at his best — during the three overs he bowled in the third T20I.

Having made way for Arshdeep Singh in Pune on Friday night, Shami will be eager to come out on the red-soil strip at the Wankhede Stadium. It was at the same venue during the World Cup semifinal that Shami had claimed his best figures in ODIs. More importantly, his 7/57 ensured a tense New Zealand chase didn’t end up in a heartbreak for a billion home fans.

No wonder then that Morne Morkel, India’s bowling coach, was thrilled with having Shami around a relatively young group of pacers in the T20I squad. “Shami has been been bowling really well. Catching to him at the warm-ups, he is hitting the glove hard. So, very happy how he is coming along. He is probably going to get an opportunity for the next game and we will see see how things go,” Morkel said after Friday night’s match.

“Excited to have him back in the group, just for him to share his experience and his knowledge of training as a massive boost for this young bowling unit, so yeah, great to have show me back in the mix.”