ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit reposes faith in Shami, backs him to deliver in CT
Ahead of the Champions Trophy, one area where India feels a bit undercooked is the pace bowling department, with Jasprit Bumrah unavailable. A lot rides on Mohammed Shami, who returned to international cricket last month after over a year on the sidelines. The experienced seamer has to guide a young pace attack that includes Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, who have played only a handful of one-dayers.
Shami played two games against England and took one wicket each in both outings. However, skipper Rohit Sharma felt that the team is not worried about the pacer’s meagre returns and said the focus was to get him back on the field.
“Shami has played only two (ODI) games and a couple of T20Is. All we wanted with Shami was to get him back wearing the Indian colours more than anything else,” said Rohit.
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“Whether he gets wickets or not, that was completely immaterial for us at that point. We wanted him to return to playing for India, and he has done that. Whatever I have seen of him so far looks perfectly fine.” “When you talk about a bowler like Shami, who has done the job for us over the years, it is just about getting back to rhythm,” he added.
Rohit also backed left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, another bowler who made a comeback during the ODIs against England after an injury (groin surgery) to come good. “With certain players, you don’t have to look at numbers so much in detail. It is just about getting back to playing; the numbers will come, and that is what our faith is in as captain and coach. Whatever prep he has had coming here, he looks good and confident in what he wants to do. If these two guys are in form, the team looks very good,” said Rohit.
