Shami is back, but is he good enough to be on the flight to Australia?  

In his storied career spanning over a decade, Mohammad Shami has seen much, much better bowling figures than 19-4-54-4. However, the senior Indian paceman will take these for now, so what if they have come against Madhya Pradesh in a Ranji Trophy group league match for Bengal on Thursday.

Never before in recent memory has a ‘comeback’ in domestic cricket from injury been a topic of such intense scrutiny and media speculation, but there is good reason for it. The National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, where the 34-year-old seam and swing ace was working on a prolonged rehabilitation programme following ankle surgery, has deputed a BCCI physio and trainer to keep a hawk’s eye on the bowler’s match fitness at Indore's Holkar Stadium.

A nod from them and chances are that Shami could well be on the flight Down Under to join forces with Jasprit Bumrah & Co, if at least for the second half of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. The pace attack is currently over-reliant on Bumrah, with Mohammed Siraj the second most experienced campaigner, and there is no gainsaying that the seasoned campaigner’s addition can give it much more teeth on the bouncy wickets Down Under. The other members of the Indian pace attack in Perth at the moment are the inexperienced Akash Deep, the injury-prone Prasiddh Krishna, and the uncapped Harshit Rana.    .

The last time Shami was seen steaming in for India was in the ICC World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad exactly a year ago, when he finished as the tournament's highest wicket taker with 24 wickets from seven matches. The ankle injury which had been bothering him throughout the tournament and by his own admission forced him to play on painkillers, sidelined him soon after.

Right through the current year, Indian cricket fans were living in hope from one series to another, with bigtime disappointment setting in when Shami could not make the cut even in a 19-member squad for Australia. His career graph, however, shows that he is no stranger to injuries, as far back as the 2015 World Cup in Australia, which he played with a badly swollen knee.

The suspense ended when a press release from the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) announced at the eleventh hour on Tuesday that Shami was cleared for action in the ongoing Ranji fixture in Indore.

The owner of 229 Test wickets and 195 ODI wickets wrote on his X handle: ‘’360 days is a long long time. All set for the Ranji Trophy. Now back on the domestic stage with the same passion and energy. Huge thanks to my fans for your endless love, support and motivation – let’s make this season memorable.’’    

After going wicketless on first day but with a disciplined show of 10-1-34-0, Shami eventually took his first wicket in a year when he castled MP captain and right-hand batter Shubham Sharma off an inside edge. The video footage suggests he is still not going full tilt, though he followed it up with another scalp as he bowled Saransh Jain.

The pacer then removed tailenders Kumar Kartikeya and Kulwant Khejroliya off successive deliveries as Bengal bundled out Madhya Pradesh for 167 runs. He will be on a hat-trick during Madhya Pradesh’s second innings.

While a call-up for the Australia series is still a matter of conjecture, Shami seems to have done enough to serve notice to the decision-makers of the IPL franchises for the mega auction on 24-25 November, with Gujarat Titans, with whom Shami won the title in 2022, releasing him last month.