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The Indian team management would be on the horns of a dilemma as far as Mohammed Shami is concerned. In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, he is India’s most experienced and effective fast bowler in the Champions Trophy. But he has a history of injuries and even during the last game against Pakistan, he went off the field but luckily returned to bowl a couple of overs to show he was fine. As India face New Zealand in their last league game today, they will have to take a rather difficult decision on whether to play Shami, given that within 36 hours, they will be back in action in the semi-final at the same venue on Tuesday. The factor to be considered is whether Shami, 34, will have enough time to rest and recover for the all-important knockout fixture. On the flipside, Shami played his last game against Pakistan last Sunday, and he may be a bit rusty after a long layoff. So, how will the team management deal with him? They may well be tempted to give Arshdeep Singh his first outing in the tournament and keep Shami fresh for the semi-final.
At a pre-match media interaction at the Dubai Stadium, KL Rahul felt it would be a tough call for the team management. The wicketkeeper-batsman said, “Look, luckily, I am not in the leadership group to have to make that decision. But I am sure there will be some temptation and we have been in these positions before, where if there is an opportunity to try out players who haven’t gotten games, then they do get a game. It happens in a bilateral series, but I don’t know if that will happen in the Champions Trophy. And I don’t know if that will happen in tomorrow’s game. We only have one day’s break before the semi-finals and we have gotten a six-day break now. So, we probably want all of the players to play the game and get a little bit of time in the middle. This is my version. It might be a very different [decision] tomorrow.”
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Rahul was asked what makes it difficult to keep wickets to Shami or to face him in the nets and how far he is from his best, if not there already. Rahul said: “The tough thing keeping wickets to Shami is that in every game, funnily somehow, he’ll make sure I’m diving full length. And then he gives me one or two opportunities to be brilliant behind the stumps or look stupid sometimes. While keeping, I think of how he gets the ball to wobble behind the stumps as well. So, that’s been very challenging, diving full length either side to grab a catch or stop giving away extra runs [in form of byes].
“And he’s very accurate. That’s something not many people talk about. Everyone talks about how he’s gifted and how he can get the ball to seam in any condition and how upright his seam is. But not many people talk about how accurate and sharp he is. He can actually surprise you with his pace. Just the other day at the nets, he hit me straight on the badge [on the helmet]. So, all these things make him a very difficult bowler to play. And he’s built it up really nicely for himself [after the injury]. I was there at the NCA [in Bangalore] for some time. I had spoken to him and I know how difficult it has been for him. But he’s worked really hard, he [has] stayed disciplined, which is the hardest thing to do when you’re injured and away from the game for so long. So, really happy to have him back and I think he’s very close to his best.”
There is no doubt the UP-born bowler is a great fighter, having battled form and fitness issues several times during his illustrious career. He was sidelined for almost a year after the ODI World Cup final against Australia in 2023 and made a comeback via the white-ball series against England back home, before making a grand start to the ICC Champions Trophy by claiming five wickets against Bangladesh and bowling impressively against Pakistan. He, thus, remains a crucial part of the team in the remainder of the tournament, and it will be interesting to see how the team management will handle him going forward.
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