Mohammad Shami bowls for 1st time since joining India's T20 WC camp, clean bowls DK; Watch

India will take on defending champions Australia in their opening ICC T20 World Cup warm-up game on October 17. Prior to their first warm-up game against the Aaron Finch-led side, Indian players were seen practising in the nets at The Gabba Stadium on Sunday, October 16. Mohammed Shami, who recently joined the Indian squad as Jasprit Bumrah's replacement, participated in the practice session.

Shami looked in great rhythm while bowling at different Indian players in the nets. Among those he bowled at was wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik. Shami was seen dismissing Karthik with a perfect yorker when the veteran batter tried to play a scoop shot. Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal were also seen bowling in the nets on Sunday. 

Mohammed Shami returns to India team

Shami was included in the standby list for World Cup in September when the initial list of the 15-member squad was announced. However, as Bumrah suffered an injury after India vs Australia T20I series, Shami and Siraj’s names started coming up as the replacement. Shami was eventually named Bumrah's replacement in the squad. Shami himself was down with COVID-19 and has come back into the national setup after a long break. Shami looked in great rhythm on Sunday which should be good news for Indian fans.  

Irrespective of the lack of match time in the last one year, Shami is undoubtedly one of the best pacers in India currently. He was the sixth-highest wicket-taker overall in the Indian Premier League 2022 with a total of 20 wickets against his name. Playing 16 matches in the debut IPL season for Gujarat Titans, Shami topped the team’s wicket-taking charts and helped the team claim the coveted IPL winners trophy.

T20 World Cup 2022

India will kickstart its 2022 T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23. Prior to the main event, India are slated to play two warm-up matches against Australia and New Zealand as part of their preparation for the marquee tournament on October 17 and October 19, respectively. 

India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.

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