Indian speedster Mohammed Shami finally makes his much-awaited return to International cricket as he has been picked in the Indian team for the 3rd T20I against England in Rajkot on Tuesday, January 28.
Shami last played for India in the ODI World Cup 2023 final when India fell runners-up to Australia. He was picked in the squad for the England T20Is and ODIs as well as for the Champions Trophy.
Shami made his return to competitive cricket in the Ranji trophy, before featuring in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy and the T20 contest Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. His international return was delayed after he was not picked in the team for the opening two T20Is. However, India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav confirmed Shami’s return.
“We will bowl first, looks nice and hard, don’t think it will change later as well. Rajkot has always been a good track, sure it will be a sporting one. We wanted to play a different brand of cricket but at the same time you need to understand the situation and he (Tilak) bailed the side out. We’ll look at it as a 3 game series from here, boys are charged up. Arshdeep is resting, Shami comes in,” Suryakumar said at the toss.
“Looks like a really good surface, looking forward to batting. We would’ve chased as well. Looks like a good wicket, guys have had good practice yesterday and we’re excited for the match. Was a really good game of cricket, we fought really hard and pushed them all the way. We need to play really well tonight. We know how well India plays, they’re a strong team. We need a good total to defend. Same team but Jamie Smith will keep wickets, Salt has got a little stiff calf,” England captain Jos Buttler said at the toss.
England’s Playing XI: Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Smith(w), Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
India’s Playing XI: Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Dhruv Jurel, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy
