Gurugram: It would have been a heartening for the Indian team management to watch Mohammed Shami steam in from a full run-up to bowl at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. The metronomic fast bowler was demonstrating his craft on the very pitch where the team had lost to New Zealand early on the fifth day.

What wouldn’t they have given to have Shami partner Jasprit Bumrah on a pitch with juice, where India were routed for 46 but the Kiwis then built a 356-run first innings lead that eventually proved decisive.

The good news though is that Shami is fit, happy with his bowling rhythm, and is ready to test himself bowling in matches, not having played a game since the ODI World Cup final loss to Australia in November, 2023. Playing for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy and emerging unscathed will help answer the big question of the national selectors and fans whether the 34-year-old is ready to team up with Bumrah in the Australia Test series starting on November 23. The pair has not bowled together in a Test since Birmingham in July, 2022.

“Felt very good after yesterday. Before that I was bowling only in half-an-hour sessions because I didn’t want to take load in one go. Yesterday I decided that over two sessions I will go all out. So, I bowled 100 percent and the result was also very good. Hopefully very soon I’ll be back on track,” Shami said on Monday.

It is not the first time Shami has been forced into a long injury break. After the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia where he took 17 wickets, he was out for over a year from the India team due to a knee injury. It is almost a year since he played following last year’s edition, after undergoing an ankle ligament surgery in London in February. He was on the verge of making a return with knee swelling set him back.

“Yes, that question has been on everyone’s mind for a long time, whether I will be there in the Australia series or not,” Shami said during a media interaction at Eugenix Hair Sciences, where he has undergone a hair transplant. “But woh bahut door ki baat hai. The only thing in my mind is how fit I can get and then go. What I see is what kind of bowling attack we need and for that I need to spend sufficient time on the field and then go.

“It doesn’t matter how much time it takes; I want to get fully fit. I don’t want a situation where I get fit here and go there and something happens. I want to get strong here before I go.”

He didn’t want to set a timeline for his return. “Can’t say that, but the day I feel I can bowl 20, or even 30, overs without difficulty, the day doctors say I can go and play, I will go the same day to play. I only wish that before the Australia series, I get to spend as many days as possible on the ground.”

When such a long layoff, especially late in one’s career, it can be frustrating. But Shami was philosophical.

“It only teaches one thing, how much you can fight, how much perfection ko pure kar sakte hain (polish one’s craft). In this phase, keep your frustrations as far as possible. Focus on fitness and game because it is very difficult to set things right all over again. There your patience becomes the most key thing for you.”

The man with the best wrist and seam position in the world game though wasn’t anxious about any decline in skills.

“The main thing is (focus was) fitness only because the skill, the talent which you have in you, you should never have any doubt about that. There are some inbuilt things, I definitely acknowledge that rhythm is very important but your skill aap ko chodke kahin nahi jayega) (it won’t desert you). For fitness, you have to fight.”

Shami is looking forward to play a part in his fourth Test series in Australia. 2014-15 was a personal success with 15 scalps in three Tests while his 16 wickets helped India end their wait for a series win. On the 2020-21 tour, a forearm fracture suffered while batting in the first Test in Adelaide left him to only admire a sensational comeback series victory.

“Australian conditions suit us. Any team that has four fast bowlers, and like ours who are of different types. And if you get the kind of bounce you get there, there cannot be anything better.

“All we ask is put up a bit of score that our bowlers can defend.”

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