In Ranji Trophy 2025-26, Bengal team has played its first match against Uttarakhand. In this match of Elite Group-C held at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, fast bowler Mohammed Shami played a crucial role. Shami bowled brilliantly in both the innings for Bengal. Shami took three wickets for 37 runs in the first innings. In the second innings, he spent 38 runs and took 4 wickets. That means he took a total of seven wickets in the match.
Mohammed Shami Has shown a mirror to Chief Selector Ajit Agkar by performing brilliantly. Agarkar had said in an interview that Shami was not fit, had he been fit he would definitely have been a part of the Australia tour. Shami last played for India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. After that he has missed the England tour, Asia Cup and the Test series against West Indies at home. Now Shami is not even a part of the Australia tour, where the Indian team has to play three ODIs and five T20 matches.
Mohammed Shami had expressed disappointment at being out of the Australia tour. Shami has Ajit Agarkar But in a way it was on target. Shami had said, ‘Selection is not in my hands. If there is any fitness related problem, then I should not play for Bengal also. If I can play four-day cricket, I can also play 50-over cricket. I don’t need to say anything more and don’t want to stir up any controversy.
When did Shami last play a test match?
Mohammed Shami has been able to play only 9 international matches after recovering from injury. Shami’s last Test match for India was in June 2023. Ajit Agarkar had earlier told that Shami will need to play some red ball matches to make a place in the Test team. Agarkar had said, ‘As a player we know what he can do, but he needs to play some cricket.’
Due to the killer bowling of Mohammed Shami, Uttarakhand team was reduced to 213 runs in the first innings and 265 runs in the second innings. Bengal team had scored 323 runs in its innings. On the basis of first innings, Bengal got a lead of 110 runs. That means Bengal got the target of 156 runs to win the match.
Bengal’s playing-11: Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Abhishek Porel (wicketkeeper), Sudeep Kumar Gharami, Anustup Majumdar, Sudeep Chatterjee, Sumant Gupta, Vishal Sunil Bhati, Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal and Ishan Porel.
Uttarakhand’s playing-11: Kunal Chandela (captain), Prashant Chopra (wicketkeeper), Bhupen Lalwani, Avneesh Sudha, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Shashwat Dangwal, Jagdish Suchit, Abhay Negi, Janmejay Joshi, Rajan Kumar and Devendra Singh Bora.
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