Premier pacer develops ‘swollen knees’ in rehab; BCCI fears he could be out for weeks more
KANPUR: In a concerning development for Team India, Mohammed Shami‘s chances of making a quick comeback has taken a hit. TOI has learnt that Shami has developed “swollen knees” while undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and there are chances he could be out for another six to eight weeks.
The fresh injury could hamper India’s plans for the five-Test series in Australia, which starts on November 22 in Perth. Shami has been under NCA’s rehab programme since undergoing an Achilles tendon surgery in February. He was expected to join the Bengal Ranji Trophy team and be a part of the first-class tournament starting October 11.
“Shami had resumed bowling and he was looking on track to make a comeback to competitive cricket soon. But this knee injury has flared up recently. BCCI’s medical team is assessing the injury but it may require quite a bit of time,” a BCCI source said.
Shami has not played since India lost the ODI World Cup final against Australia in November 2023. He was picked subject to fitness for India’s two-Test tour of South Africa in Dec 2023. But he was ruled out of the tour after the BCCI medical team didn’t give clearance.
It may be recalled that Shami had endured a major knee injury during the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia. He was looked after by current head of BCCI medical team Nitin Patel.
“It’s a jolt for the NCA medical team. They have been working on him for over a year. They have one of the best workload management systems in place. The medical team is trying its best to put him back in the park soon,” the source said.
TOI understands the BCCI medical team goes slow on surgeries unless absolutely necessary. Even in the case of Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, NCA had tried to get them fit through rehab. In the case of Shami, it took them four months to finally resort to surgery.
The Indian team management has been very careful about the workload management of the premier India fast bowlers, namely Bumrah and Shami. They were expected to lead the attack in Australia but in the recent past, neither Bumrah nor Shami have played five Test matches on the bounce.
It will be interesting to see if the selectors pick Bumrah for the entire three-Test home series against New Zealand starting October 16. Selectors would hope that the Shami gets enough time to be Test-match ready by the time they announce the team for the Australia tour.