As Team India prepares to take on England in the upcoming five-match T20I series, the focus is on veteran pacer Mohammed Shami. The right-arm pacer has made a much-awaited return to the Indian team in the upcoming series.

He has not played for Team India since the final of the 2023 World Cup in November 2023. He played the World Cup with an ankle injury and finished the tournament as the highest wicket-taker. However, Mohammed Shami had to pay a heavy price for playing with an injury as he had to undergo surgery and was out for almost a year.

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He returned to competitive cricket a few months ago and was also a contender to make the Indian team for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, the selectors chose not to pick him in the Test series before re-listing him for the T20Is against England.

Mohammad Shami comes out:

HE HAS COME 💪🏻

Team India 🇮🇳
Mohd. Shami 😎
Eden Gardens 🏟️

Just good 👌🏻#TeamIndia | | #INVENG | | @MdShami11 | | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/PwCuEOcaDA

– BCCI (@BCCI) January 20, 2025

Mohammed Shami along with his Indian teammates practiced for three hours on Sunday (January 19). Wearing a heavy bandage around his left knee probably as a precaution, the Indian pacer started his workout by jogging and walking a little.

After that, he participated in physical exercises and tests on his knee. And it didn’t take long for Mohammed Shami to put to rest all his worries about his fitness as he hit a scintillating shot while taking a long spell. According to a PTI report, the fast bowler bowled the likes of Abhishek Sharma, and Tilak Varma in the net and troubled them with his pace and pace.

Mohammed Shami fired at full steam for almost 45 minutes without needing help from the team physiotherapist or the strength and conditioning coach. After the bowling session, he was seen having a conversation with bowling coach Morne Morkel.

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Mohammed Shami cries:

Although Mohammed Shami did not look in any trouble while bowling the ball in the nets, he left many worried as he returned to the dressing room. Later, he returned to the floor and was seen working carefully with his former Bengal teammates while carefully adjusting his heavily bandaged left knee.

Meanwhile, Shami has also been included in the Indian squad for the ICC Champions Trophy next month. With Jasprit Bumrah not fully fit, a fit Shami is a must for Team India.

“I don’t think his fitness had anything to do with white-ball cricket. We were trying to get him to Australia,” said chief captain Ajit Agarkar at a press conference while announcing the Champions Trophy 2025 squad.

“Unfortunately, his knee did not allow him to play four or five days of cricket. As for the white ball, I think he played a lot of Syed Mushtaq Ali’s games and some of Vijay Hazare’s games.”