Mohammed Shami effectively ruled out of Border-Gavaskar Trophy after suffering side strain injury: Report

India pacer Mohammed Shami has reportedly suffered a fresh injury setback which means that he is almost “virtually” ruled out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series that starts from 22 November.

Shami had sustained an ankle injury during the 2023 ODI World Cup and has not played competitive cricket since featuring in the final against Australia on 19 November, which India lost by six wickets. Earlier in 2024, the 34-year-old underwent a surgery to treat his ankle injury.

The Uttar Pradesh cricketer was seen bowling in the nets under the guidance of bowling coach Morne Morkel, once the Bengaluru Test between India and New Zealand ended in October. Shami had his knee heavily strapped after skipper Rohit Sharma said that the veteran had sustained a swollen knee during rehabilitation at Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy. Rohit had also said that India did not need an "undercooked" Shami .

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Shami dropped from Bengal Ranji squad due to injury

Shami was looking to play a couple of Ranji Trophy matches to regain full fitness, but according to Times of India, Shami has been dropped from Bengal’s squad for the next two Ranji Trophy games after he sustained a fresh side strain injury.

Bengal are currently taking on Karnataka in Bengaluru in their fourth match of the 2024-25 Ranji season, and will face Madhya Pradesh from 13 November after this match. “I am very happy with how I bowled yesterday. I was bowling from half run-up before that because I didn’t want to take too much load. But yesterday, I decided to go full tilt, and I bowled at a 100 per cent,” Shami had said during a promotional event in Gurgaon in October.

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“The only thing on my mind is to ensure that I am fit and how strong I can be for the Australia series. I can see what kind of attack we need in Australia. I have to spend more time on the ground. I want to play a couple of (Ranji) matches before I go,” he had added.

Shami has so far played 64 Tests, 101 ODIs and 23 T20Is, taking 448 wickets across the three formats. As a result of his injuries, Shami missed multiple tournaments, including IPL 2024 and the 2024 T20 World Cup which India won by beating South Africa.

India, who recently lost the three-match Test series to New Zealand at home, will hope to be at their dominant best against Australia in the upcoming five-match Test series. India need to beat Australia at least by a 4-0 series margin if they are to directly qualify for the 2025 World Test Championship (WTC) final.