Mohammed Shami was making his return to First-Class cricket since November 2024.
India pacer Mohammed Shami has sustained a fresh injury setback on his return to First-Class cricket, after he was seen struggling during the Duleep Trophy quarter-final between East Zone and North Zone in Bengaluru.
Shami, playing for East Zone, seemed to be lacking touch with the ball during the first two sessions on day one of the quarter-final. He finished the first innings with figures of 1/100, and bowled just 11 overs in North Zone’s second innings. In the first spell on the first day, Shami’s figures read 0/10 from five overs, whereas his second spell had figures of 0/10 from three overs.
Ultimately, in the 23 overs that he bowled in the first innings, Shami got only one wicket, that of Sahil Lotra. In the second innings, the Bengal pacer registered figures of 0/36 from 11 overs.
Shami had an opportunity to take a wicket earlier in the fourth spell, that of Kanhaiya Wadhawan, but he was dropped by Kumar Kushagra at long-on.
He did not bowl in the final session on day three. East Zone skipper Riyan Parag cleared the air, and said that Shami has sustained only a minor injury.
“No, I think he rolled over on his toe and the other spike went over his toe, so that’s why he couldn’t bowl,” he said after the match ended on Sunday.
The 34-year-old speedster’s career has been recently haunted with injuries. He had injured his ankle during the 2023 ODI World Cup, and was sidelined for almost a year as he began recovering and underwent rehabilitation. In November 2024, the veteran made his competitive return in a Ranji Trophy match for Bengal against Madhya Pradesh. He collected seven wickets across both the innings of that match.
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He then made his India return in the limited-overs series against England at home, and also played the 2025 Champions Trophy that India won. In the Champions Trophy, Shami collected nine wickets from five matches at an average of 25.88.
Despite having made limited-overs comebacks for India, the Uttar Pradesh-born pacer is yet to play a Test sice featuring in the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia. He wasn’t part of the India squad that toured England recently, more so because of his fitness concerns and the inability to bowl longer spells.
