Veteran India pacer picked in Bengal squad for Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25

Veteran India seamer Mohammed Shami has been included in the Bengal squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, marking a new twist in the speculation surrounding his potential inclusion for the latter half of the Border-Gavaskar series. The right-arm bowler has been a part of Bengal's domestic campaign since returning from a long-term injury.

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) named a 20-man squad for the List-A competition, led by Sudip Kumar Gharami. Bengal's campaign is scheduled to begin from December 21 onwards, with a clash against Delhi in Hyderabad.

Bengal's second clash against Tripura is scheduled for December 26, coinciding with Team India's Boxing Day Test encounter against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Shami marked his comeback from an ankle injury in the Ranji Trophy group-stage clash against Madhya Pradesh, where he bagged seven wickets. After that, he played nine straight T20 clashes in Bengal's quarter-final run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Bengal squad for 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy

Sudip Kumar Gharami (capt), Mohammed Shami, Anustup Majumdar, Abishek Porel (wk), Sudip Chatterjee, Karan Lal, Shakir Habib Gandhi (wk), Sumanta Gupta, Subham Chatterjee, Ranjot Singh Khaira, Pradipta Pramanik, Kaushik Maity, Vikas Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Saksham Chaudhary, Rohit Kumar, Mohammed Kaif, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Sayan Ghosh, Kanishk Seth

"The door is open for him to come and play anytime" - India captain Rohit Sharma on Mohammed Shami

Team India management have been keeping a close eye on Shami's progress but are not willing to take a risk. The Men in Blue had assembled a pace battery without Shami and included the likes of Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna to assist Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in Australia.

"We want to be more than 100% sure with him because it has been a long time. We don't want to put pressure on him to come here and do the job for the team. There are some professionals monitoring, we will take a call based on what those guys feel. They are the ones watching him every game, how he pulls up after the game, after bowling four overs, standing for 20 overs. But the door is open for him to come and play anytime," Rohit Sharma had said after the second Test against Australia in Adelaide (via ESPNcricinfo).

Shami had missed the majority of the previous tour of Australia as well after sustaining a series-ending injury in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval.