Mohammed Shami in action
Credit: Reuters Photo
Bengaluru: Mohammed Shami's return to international cricket may take longer than expected with Rohit Sharma expressing his doubts over the availability of the senior pacer for the tour of Australia, starting later next month.
Shami, who underwent a surgery for his Achilles tendon in February this year, has developed swelling in his knee that has "put him back a little" in his recovery.
"To be honest, right now, it is pretty difficult for us to make a call on him, whether he will be fit for this series or Australia series," revealed Rohit when asked about the status of Shami's fitness.
"You know he recently had a setback. He had a swelling in his knee, which was quite unusual while he was in the process of getting fit, getting close to 100%. That put him back a little bit in his recovery. So, he had to start fresh again. Right now, he is at the NCA. He is working with the physios, the doctors at the NCA. We are keeping our fingers crossed."
The Indian skipper felt it wouldn't be a good idea to take an "undercooked" Shami to Australia and that the 34-year-old seamer needed to play a couple of matches to inspire confidence.
"We want him to be 100% fit, more than anything else," Rohit began. "We don't want to bring an undercooked Shami to Australia. That is not going to be the right decision for us. Since you mentioned that he has not played cricket for a year, and it is quite tough for a fast bowler, having missed so much of cricket, and then suddenly to come out and be at his best, it is not ideal. So, we want to give him enough time to recover and be 100% fit.
"The physios, the trainers, the doctors have set a road map for him. He is supposed to play a couple of games before he plays international cricket. So, we will see where he is after this New Zealand series, and then take a call at what stage of Australia he will be fit for us," he offered.
Shami hasn't played a competitive game since the World Cup final last year against Australia in Ahmedabad. Shami was the highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 24 scalps from just seven games.
With Shami's recovery delayed and left-arm seamer Yash Dayal, who was drafted into India squad for Bangladesh series, suffering a shoulder injury, India are looking to expand their pace resources and have summoned Mayank Yadav, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna and all-rounder Nitish Reddy to travel with India's squad for the series against Kiwis.
Prasidh, however, will have to be cleared by the NCA after the pacer sustained an unspecified injury during Karnataka's Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh in Indore where he could bowl just eight overs before walking off the field.
"Yes, absolutely. That is why they (the four pacers) are here," Rohit began. "We have seen some talent in them. I understand that they have not played a lot of red-ball cricket, but when you see talent, you want to try and groom them. You want to try and bring them as close to the team as possible. And in a short period of time, they have shown they have some ability as well.
"So, we want to keep them with the team and see whether they will be ready for international cricket or not, especially Test cricket, because Test cricket is a different ball game compared to white ball cricket. So, we want to keep them, we want to see what they can offer us, and have more options with us, more than anything else. We want to create a bench strength where tomorrow if anything happens to anyone, we are not worried, and we don't want to be worried or too heavily reliant on a few individuals."