Fast bowler Mohammed Shami is likely to miss the first two Test matches against England starting from January 25 as he hasn’t resumed bowling post his ankle injury. "Shami hasn't even started to bowl, he will have to go to NCA and prove his fitness. He looks doubtful for the first two Tests against England. Whereas in Yadav's case he will take more time than expected. After his hernia operation it might take up to eight-nine weeks for him to start training. Hopefully, he will be fit during the IPL," Indian Express quoted a source as saying. Shami last played in the 2023 World Cup final against Australia, since then he has been out of the Indian squad.
Benched during the first four matches of 2023 Cricket World Cup, Shami made his first appearance against New Zealand at Dharamshala and took 5/54 winning the Player of the Match award. He then followed it up with a match winning haul of 4/22 against England at Lucknow in a low scoring match, helping India to defend 229. He took 5/18 at Mumbai against Sri Lanka and was awarded Player of the Match. His fifth wicket in the this match was his 45th wicket in Cricket World Cup matches, overtaking the Indian record of 44 previously held by Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath. His best ODI performance came when he took 7/57 against New Zealand in the semi-final at Wankhede on 15 November 2023 winning the Player of the Match and becoming the first Indian bowler to reach 50 World Cup wickets ( in 17 innings) and the first Indian bowler to claim a 7 wicket-haul in a World Cup match. In the same match, he also set the record for the most hauls of four wickets in World Cup matches (8) and the most five-wicket hauls (4) surpassing Mitchell Starc's record who had previously held the record with 3 fifers. Shami finished the 2023 World Cup as the leading wicket-taker with 24 wickets in 7 innings. He surpassed the record of most wickets by an Indian in a single edition of the World Cup, going past Zaheer Khan's tally of 21 in 2011 Cricket World Cup
