Mohammed Shami has ‘serious question marks’ on his bowling with him not able to get his lines right consistently.
Mohammed Shami has ‘serious question marks ‘ on his return to the IPL, says Aakash Chopra.
Mohammed Shami came very close to breaking an IPL record earlier this month. that of a game’s most costly four-over stretch. He was only one run short of Jofra Archer’s 76 for Rajasthan Royals (RR) against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) when he gave up 75 against Punjab Kings (PBKS). You do go for runs in T20 cricket, but Shami hasn’t shown himself in the 2025 Indian Premier League, and in light of India’s Test tour of England shortly after the IPL, Aakash Chopra stated that “he’s not looking good” at the moment.
After suffering an ankle injury and undergoing surgery on his right foot in March 2024, Shami was unable to participate in the most recent IPL. He took 28 wickets for the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the 2023 Indian Premier League, earning him the Purple Cap. He went 3-0-48-0 versus GT on Friday night. His season total now stands at six wickets from nine games with an economy rate of 11.23 and an average of 56.17. Shami’s bad run with the ball, along with a lot of other factors, has contributed to SRH’s disappointing season.
“You’ve had a big surgery like that, I think psychologically for a start [it gets you down],” Danny Morrison said on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out after SRH’s latest defeat, which left them on the brink of elimination. “And then you’ve got to come back and pace yourself, I just wonder: he is no 29-year-old anymore, is he? So there are all of those things that are stacked against you.”
If Morrison chose to be kind, Chopra didn’t.
“That’s a big question there, no, because it’s not like he came back from an injury last week or last month. He started playing domestic cricket last year and this is May already,” Chopra said. “He’s played an ICC event [Champions Trophy] in between. He’s played a lot of games. If he’s still off the boil, and that has something to do with the injury – and we’re all assuming that it is – then there is a serious question mark with regards to what happens next.
“Of course, [SRH] is one story. The other is the tour of England. All of us were harping about the fact that [at the] Border-Gavaskar Trophy, [Jasprit] Bumrah was alone, there was no Shami, and if there was Shami how things would have been different. But will there be Shami [in England] is the question. And what kind of Shami?
“This tournament is such that it doesn’t matter who you are. If you’re not delivering the goods, you will be taken to the cleaners. And right now, what I see with Shami is, pace down is one bit, second is not enough balls getting bowled in the same area. Mohammed Shami was always that. That is his only strength [and], it is phenomenal.”