Mohammed Shami fitness update: Ravi Shastri questions BCCI’s lack of communication on Indian pacer’s recovery

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has questioned the BCCI and National Cricket Academy (NCA) 's lack of communication on Mohammed Shami's recovery. The pacer, who last played for India in the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup, was out of action for nearly a year with an ankle injury before making a comeback in the domestic circuit in November last year.

Since his return, Shami has played in the Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy for Bengal and was rumoured to be flown to Australia to join the Indian squad for the final two Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests in Melbourne and Sydney.

But to everyone's surprise, Shami was officially ruled out of the final two BGT Tests, with the BCCI medical team citing a knee swelling. Unimpressed by how the BCCI medical team has handled Shami's injury, Shastri questioned why the India pacer is sitting so long at the NCA.

“To be honest, I was very surprised with the communication going on in the media as to what exactly happened to Mohammed Shami,” Shastri stated in the ICC Review. “Where is he when it comes to recovery?”

“He's been sitting in the NCA for I don't know how long. Why can't proper communication come out on where he stands? A player of his ability, I would have brought him to Australia,” he added.

'Shami's presence would have helped Indian bowlers'

The 62-year-old opined that the Indian bowlers Down Under would have gotten help even by Shami's presence in the dressing room. “If we thought by the third Test match that no, this guy can't play the rest of the series, I would let him go.

“But I would have brought him with the team, kept him, monitored him with the best of the physios and best of the advice even from international physios who are in Australia and seeing how he went. But I would have kept him in the mix,” added Shastri.

Not only Shastri but even India captain Rohit Sharma also questioned NCA's role in handling Shami's fitness. After the Third Test in Brisbane, Rohit put the ball in NCA's court. “I think it's high time somebody from NCA talked about him. That's our national cricket academy, where he is rehabbing. Those guys are the ones who need to come up and give us some kind of update,” Rohit had said.