Mohammed Shami made up for a quiet Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy match between Bengal and Madhya Pradesh by picking up 4 wickets on November 14, Thursday. Shami had returned to the cricket field after an absence of 360 days as he underwent surgery right after the ODI World Cup 2023. Shami failed to …
Mohammed Shami keeps BGT selection hopes alive with 4 wickets on Ranji comeback
Mohammed Shami made up for a quiet Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy match between Bengal and Madhya Pradesh by picking up 4 wickets on November 14, Thursday. Shami had returned to the cricket field after an absence of 360 days as he underwent surgery right after the ODI World Cup 2023.
Shami failed to make an impact on Day 1 of the match as he ended with figures of 0 for 34 in his 10 overs. Interestingly, he was also playing alongside his brother Mohammed Kaif during the match as well. However, things would change on Day 2 as Shami wrecked the MP batting order with his bowling. The hosts had resumed from 103 for 1 after bowling out Bengal for 228 and had Rajat Patidar and Subranshu Senapati batting well.
However, Suraj Jaiswal broke their stand by getting the wicket of Patidar and this started a big collapse. Senapati also soon followed as MP found themselves at 109 for 3 and in a spot of bother. Shami got his first wicket soon after as he cleaned up Shubham Sharma as the batting started to crumble infront of the Bengal bowling.
Shami would come in when the score was 164 for 7 and decided to clean up the tail of the MP batting order. The pacer would clean up Saransh Jain first before removing the last 2 batters, Kumar Karthikeya and Kulwant Khejroliya off consecutive deliveries in the 59th over as MP were bundled out for 167
Shami would end up with figures of 4 for 54 in 19 overs and he bowled 4 maidens as well. His brother, Kaif, would also pick up 2 wickets as Bengal took a first innings lead of 61 runs.
Shami keeps BGT hopes alive
The performance from Shami does keep his Border-Gavaskar Trophy hopes alive as India are all set to start their campaign in Perth from November 22. Shami played a big role in India’s BGT win in 2018-19 under Virat Kohli.
Shami has picked up 31 wickets in 8 matches in Australia but wasn’t part of the squad that India announced for the upcoming series. However, he could be brought in if there’s a case of an injury.
