Mohammed Shami named in Bengal's 50-member probables, eyes domestic return

Kolkata: Veteran India pacer Mohammed Shami, who has been out of action since IPL 2025 and is not part of India’s ongoing Test tour of England, was on Saturday named in Bengal’s 50-member list of probables for the upcoming domestic season.

The list, released by the Cricket Association of Bengal, also includes pacer Akash Deep and top-order batter Abhimanyu Easwaran, who are both currently touring England with the Indian team.

It also includes right-arm seamer Mukesh Kumar and senior batter Anustup Majumdar, who is likely to lead Bengal again.

Spin bowling all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed, who is currently recovering from an injury sustained in the Bengal Pro League T20, and wicketkeeper-batter Abishek Porel are also among the probables who will attend a preseason camp, the date and venue of which is yet to be announced.

Shami could also feature for East Zone in the season-opening Duleep Trophy, which returns to its traditional inter-zonal format this year and begins on August 28.

The tournament may mark Shami’s return to competitive cricket.

The 33-year-old Shami, who has played 64 Tests, 108 ODIs and 25 T20Is, last turned out for India in their triumphant campaign in the Champions Trophy early this year after recovering from an ankle injury.

He picked up nine wickets in five matches -- joint-highest for India alongside Varun Chakravarthy, who took his nine in just three games -- as India defeated New Zealand in the final.

But Shami was below par in the IPL where he turned out for his new franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad and managed just six wickets in nine innings at an economy rate of 11.23.

He had earlier returned to international cricket in the T20I series at home against England in January this year, having last played in the ODI World Cup final in November 2023.

Shami had made domestic comeback with Bengal in the last season where he played across all formats, but was not picked for the tour of Australia.

Bengal's probables

Mohammed Shami, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Anustup Majumdar, Sudip Chatterjee, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Abishek Porel (wk), Shakir Habib Gandhi (wk), Kazi Junaid Saifi, Shahbaz Ahamed, Pradipta Pramanik, Writtick Chatterjee, Karan Lal, Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, Sindhu Jaiswal, Ishan Porel, Mohammed Kaif, Subham Chatterjee, Sumanta Gupta, Chinmoy Jain, Ranjot Singh Khaira, Ankur Paul, Rahul Kundu, Aditya Purohit, Gaurav Singh Chauhan, Saurabh Kumar Singh, Aishik Patel, Priyanshu Srivastava, Ankit Chatterjee, Saksham Chaudhary, Aamir Gani, Vikash Singh (Junior), Rishabh Chaudhary, Raju Halder, Shreyan Chakraborty, Sourav Halder, Rahul Prasad, Ankit Mishra, Subham Sarkar, Vishal Bhati, Rohit, Rohit Kumar, Rishabh Vivek, Sumit Mohanta, Kanishk Seth, Sandipan Das (Junior), Sayan Ghosh, Nuruddin Mondal, Soummyadip Mandal and Yudhajit Guha.