After a prolonged injury lay-off, pacer finds his feetFive wickets in the first match, five wides in the first over of the second. The former pretty much the norm for him in recent One-Day International cricket, the latter an aberration catalyzed, perhaps, by the perceived need to make an immediate impact.Welcome to the world of Mohammed Shami.It’s a complex world, a world of great contrasts microcosmed in India’s first two outings of the Champions Trophy. A world of potential realized and yet one unfulfilled.Eleven years after a stirring Test debut at the Eden Gardens against West Indies, Shami is still going strong – paradoxically helped along by a few major injuries that have extended his career. Last week, he became the quickest to 200 ODI wickets, a phenomenal achievement considering he has only played 105 matches – just over 40% of all of India’s games (252) since his maiden appearance.The last 15 months have been especially harsh on the 34-year-old, who was left out of the first four games of the home World Cup in 2023 and still finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker. Despite his immense experience – this was his third World Cup and he had tasted no little success in Australia/New Zealand (2015) and England (2019) – he was sacrificed at the altar of team balance until an unfortunate injury to Hardik Pandya against Bangladesh opened the door. Shami waltzed in and made a strong statement with a wicket off his first ball of the tournament, against New Zealand in Dharamsala.Unstoppable in the World Cup, he took five wickets in an innings thrice, including seven for 57 against New Zealand in the semifinals. Five for 53 against Bangladesh last Thursday was his fifth five-fer in 12 ODIs. He goes at 5.57 an over but given that he strikes every 25.6 balls, it’s a trade-off Rohit Sharma is more than happy with.Playing much of the World Cup with an Achilles’ heel, Shami underwent surgery in February. Amid expectations that he would front up towards the end of the five home Tests between September and November and be in contention for the Test tour of Australia, Shami courted one setback after another, unrelated swelling in his knee delaying his return-to-play protocol. It wasn’t until November that he finally played for Bengal in the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a good 360 days after the World Cup final.India resisted the temptation to rush Shami across to Australia because they didn’t want to take any chances, not at this stage of his career. The prudence of that move was amplified after Jasprit Bumrah contracted back spasms in the Sydney Test, which rendered him a non-starter for the Champions Trophy.
