In a recent video posted by Star Sport, Former Indian Pacer Umesh Yadav was seen praising and backing Indian Pacer Mohammed Shami. Mohammed Shami underwent successful surgery on his right Achilles tendon in February 2024 following an injury sustained during the 2023 ODI World Cup. This injury caused him to miss the IPL 2024, T20 World Cup, and Border-Gavaskar Trophy. After a 14-month rehabilitation, he returned to cricket and, against Sun Risers Hyderabad, he bowled an amazing spell, taking 2 wickets and giving 9 runs.

“I don’t think this is a comeback for Shami. He has always been a great bowler for India, showing his skills; he was not out of the team on any performance issue, he was out for an injury,” Yadav was heard saying in the video. “It is never easy for any player to come back from an injury and give 100% and go back to how perfect he was. It takes time to get back into the rhythm. Shami came back from a career-ruining injury, and when he gave 75 runs in his first IPL match, people should not look down on him, as it takes time to get back to things.”

He further added, “ I think Shami did an incredible performance in the match against LSG and I back him to be soon getting back to the senior team and keep bowling.”

Sourav Ganguly and Akash Chopra, too, are in praise and backing Shami

Mohammed Shami has carried forward the form he showed in domestic cricket into the Indian Premier League, with his early performances this season for the Lucknow Super Giants turning quite a few heads. Shami has an economy of just 4.62 in the two matches he has played for LSG thus far, taking 3 wickets. After a strong Ranji season, Shami made a comeback in IPL and took the Player of the Match award in the match against SRH.

Sourav Ganguly too backed Shami’s performance, saying, “He should be bowling at the other end of (Jasprit) Bumrah, nowhere else. That’s how good he is. We all saw that spell the other night against SRH four overs, nine runs against two of the best T20 players, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. That was phenomenal.”

Even former Indian opener and current commentator Akash Chopra questioned whether we are giving enough credit to Shami’s performance. He said, “Are we giving Shami enough credit, and when will we actually give him credit? It’s a big question. Why are we not celebrating him? I am the same person who was saying that the selectors have to choose, and if they are not selecting, they might have seen him, his fitness, and whatever,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

Shami also had an eye-catching domestic season, taking 8 wickets in the Bengal semifinal, though Bengal lost. Do you think he will have a great IPL season after injury and make a comeback in the Indian team?