India will not take ‘undercooked’ Mohammed Shami to Australia: Rohit Sharma

India will not carry an undercooked Mohammed Shami to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, said Rohit Sharma ahead of the first Test match against New Zealand. Shami has not played cricket since the ODI World Cup 2023, where he was in sensational form. Shami was forced to undergo ankle surgery after the tournament and has been rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru ever since.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday, October 15, Sharma gave an update on Shami’s condition and said that the fast bowler has swelling on his knees, something that the Indian media reported during the Bangladesh Test series. Shami had called out the reports as fake, however, the Indian captain revealed that the pacer has been working with the doctors at the NCA to return back to full fitness.
“To be honest, it’s pretty difficult for us to make a call on him, whether he would be fit for this series or the Australia series. He recently had a setback, he had a swelling in his knee which was quite unusual. When he was getting close to 100 per cent, he had a swelling in his knee that put him back a little bit in his recovery. He had to start afresh. Right now, he is at the NCA. He is working with the physios and the doctors. We are closely keeping an eye,” Rohit Sharma said on Shami.
“We want him to be fit. We want him to be 100 per cent fit, more than anything else. We don’t want to bring an undercooked Shami to Australia. That’s not going to be the right decision for us. He has not played cricket for a year, that’s quite tough for a fast bowler to come back and be at his best. That’s not ideal. We want to give him enough time to recover and be 100 per cent fit. The physios, the trainers and the doctors have set a roadmap for him. He is supposed to play a couple of domestic matches before international matches. We will see where he is at after the New Zealand series and take a call as to what stage of Australia tour, he can be fit for us,” Rohit Sharma further added on the fast bowler.
In case Mohammed Shami is not able to travel to Australia, it would be a huge miss for the team. India have won back to back series Down Under and Shami would have formed a crucial part of the Indian bowling attack. In Shami’s absence, India have been grooming Akash Deep as the third pacer in the Test team. The Bengal player has been able to support Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj extremely well in the limited opportunities that he has been given.
It is also expected that India will fast-track a few players for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well. India play their first match in Perth, which starts on November 22.