Shami's fitness is not a problem, Gambhir and Suryakumar to decide his selection: Sitanshu Kotak

India’s newly-appointed batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has provided a crucial update on when Mohammed Shami could play his next match for the national cricket team. Shami returned to the India cricket team, after a gap of over one year with his selection for the ongoing T20I series against England , but the 34-year-old pacer had not featured in the two T20Is played so far.

Shami was also seen bowling in the nets with his knees heavily damaged during a practice session recently. It was a swelling in the knee that ruled Shami out of the last two Tests in the Bord-Gavaskar Trophy. Earlier last year he underwent right heel surgery .

Gambhir and SKY will take call on Shami’s selection

Kotak cleared the air over concerns regarding Shami’s fitness and said that it is “not a problem” but his return to the team will depend on the plans of coach Gautam Gambhir and T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav as the pacer has also been picked for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025.

“Yes, Shami is fit but something about him playing or not playing, I am not the one who can answer. There is definitely a plan (for Shami) looking at coming matches as well as One-Dayers. So, that is something Gautam and obviously Surya will take a call on. But (his) fitness, definitely is not a problem, depending on how they are planning to build his load,” Kotak said.

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Understandably, Gambhir is not rushing Sham’s return to international cricket as there are question marks hanging over Jasprit Bumrah’s availability for the Champions Trophy 2025. In case Bumrah doesn’t get fit, Shami will be India’s No.1 fast bowler in the ICC tournament.

Kotak looks forward to working with Kohli

Kotak is also looking forward to working with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the ODIs as the duo have been in poor form off late.

“Rohit and Virat are senior players, but even the players we have now, it is a lot about understanding how they are planning their games, how they think and then see if we can add something. If I can add value to 2%, 5% (of their game), that would be great. There might be a lot of things that I can also learn from them,” he said.

Kohli and Rohit together accumulated just 221 runs from 14 innings on the tour of Australia.