Mohammed Shami, who was picked in India’s limited-overs for the tour of Australia will play in the first two matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Bengal after the state recently announced the 16-member squad for India's domestic T20 tournament.
An official from the Cricket Association of Bengal spoke about the inclusion of Shami in the 16 member squad, he said, “Shami will play first two matches and that's why we have picked a 16-member team and included Alok Pratap Singh as the 16th member.”
Shami who has been out for nine months with a knee injury, which eventually needed surgery, returned back to cricket in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. He is also a part of the squad for the Australian tour, both ODIs and T20Is.
The fast bowler took 2 wickets on his comeback game against Uttar Pradesh, but Bengal still lost the Group D encounter as UP managed to get to the target of 221 with ease. In his second match, he took a solitary wicket, but his side once again lost the game, this time to Madhya Pradesh.
In his two domestic one-dayers since his comeback, the 25-year-old sent down 18 overs and picked up three wickets.
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will follow a similar pattern to the Vijay Hazare Trophy as it will first be group stages followed by a knock-out round.
Bengal are in Group A, which includes Gujarat, Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Vidarbha. They open the tournament against Hyderabad on January 2 in Nagpur, led by captain Manoj Tiwary.
Shami’s performance will be really important to assess his fitness just before the Australian tour, which will see him return to the country, where he enjoyed a fruitful World Cup before his injury. Given his pace and ability to swing the ball, he will play an important role against the Australians in their own territory on pitches, which are famous for their speed and bounce.
Bengal’s Squad for Syed Mushtaq Ali Tournament:
Manoj Tiwary (c), Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Sudip Chatterjee, Debabrata Das, Pankaj Shaw, Pramod Chandila, Aamir Gani, Pragyan Ojha, Sayan Sekhar Mondal, Mohammad Shami, Ashok Dinda, Mukesh Kumar, Anurag Tiwari and Alok Pratap Singh.
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