India captain Rohit Sharma has discussed the possibility of calling up pace bowler Mohammed Shami for the remaining two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
Shami was not selected for the tour of Australia because of an ankle surgery that sidelined him for nearly a year.
He underwent the surgery in February and was on track to return to the national team. However, he aggravated a knee issue during his rehabilitation, which further delayed his comeback.
The right-handed pacer achieved match fitness last month and returned to action for his domestic team Bengal, under the monitoring of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
During the post-match press conference after the drawn third Test, Rohit Sharma was asked if Shami could make a comeback in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
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However, the Indian captain emphasized that the team management would consider Mohammed Shami only after receiving full assurance from the NCA.
“About Shami, I think it’s high time somebody from NCA talks about him, where he is rehabbing,” Rohit said. “Those guys are the ones who need to come up and give us some kind of update.”
“I understand he’s playing a lot of cricket back home, but there have been some complaints about his knee as well.
“So, look, the last thing you want is the player coming here and then pulling out in the middle of the game. You know what happens when that kind of thing happens.
“So, there is no way we want to take that chance unless we are like, not 100%, 200% sure, we’re not going to take any risk.
“But yeah, as I said in the last press conference, the door is open if those guys at the NCA feel that he is okay to go and recover and play, we’ll be happy to have him.”
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