Mohammed Shami’s recovery from ankle injury hampered by swelling in knee, says Indian captain Rohit Sharma

Hyderabad: Mohammed Shami is racing against time to get fit for India’s tour of Australia for the five Test matches for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but the pacer’s slow recovery and further complications has all but virtually ruled him out of the Australia series.

Shami underwent a knee surgery after the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 and has been on the road to recovery but by Rohit Sharma’s latest admission that the pacer’s recovery has been hampered by a swelling in the knee, he becomes a doubtful inclusion in India’s squad for Australia.

Rohit, speaking to the media on the eve of the first India vs New Zealand Test match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, said Shami’s recovery has been slow but a new swelling, which Rohit termed as unusual, has hampered his recovery progress. “To be honest, right now, it’s pretty difficult for us to make a call on him, whether he’ll be fit for this series or the Australia series. He recently had swelling on his knee, which was quite unusual. He was in the process of getting fit, getting close to 100 percent, he had swelling in his knee, that put him back a little bit in his recovery. So, he had to start again. Right now, he’s at NCA, he’s working with the physios and the doctors at NCA,” Rohit gave an update when asked about Shami.

Shami, who has played 64 Test matches for India and has scalped 229 wickets at an average of 27.71, has been one of the vital cogs in India’s pace setup, especially in overseas conditions.

The Indian captain was clear that he did not want an ‘undercooked’ player for the marquee tour giving an indication that unless Shami regains complete fitness, he wouldn’t be included in India’s squad. “We are keeping our fingers crossed, we want him to be 100 percent fit. We don’t want to bring an undercooked Shami to Australia, that is not going to be the right decision for us. It is quite tough for a fast bowler, having missed so much of cricket, and then suddenly to come out and be at his best, it is not ideal,” the Indian captain explained.

According to Rohit, Shami will play a couple of practice games before getting back to the international grind. “We want to give him enough time to recover and be 100 percent fit. The physios, the trainers, and the doctors have set a roadmap for him. He is supposed to play a couple of (practice) games before he plays international cricket,” the captain said.

India and Australia play five Test matches for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that starts on November 22 at the Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia.