Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels the door is still open for Mohammed Shami to return to the Indian team. Shami has once again been left out of India’s squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against New Zealand starting on January 11.
The fast bowler last played for India during their victorious campaign in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and has since found himself out of the team. Despite being out for several months, Pathan feels that Shami still has the ability to break back into the national team.
“The biggest topic is Mohammed Shami. What’s his future? He’s not someone who came in yesterday, played a few matches and left. He’s taken 450-500 international wickets, which is a huge number. If you’ve taken more than 400 wickets and then you’re dropped and there are questions about your fitness – it happens to everyone. As long as you play cricket on his channel, Pat.
Pathan further suggested that Shami should perform at his best in the upcoming Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) season to get back into contention.
“But Shami has already bowled 200 overs. After bouncing 200 overs, if fitness is a question, then fitness has already shown. What else needs to be improved, only the selection committee knows what they think. If I were him, I would go and play IPL and cause havoc. I would take the new ball and perform at that level. Domestic cricket performances and then it’s not about your old cricket and rhythm, but your old rhythm is not talked about, IPL will be watching you all over the world.
Ever since Shami was dropped from the national side, he has been toiling hard in domestic cricket. The speedster has bowled over 200 overs across the Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) in the ongoing season, taking a total of 47 wickets.
In the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, India’s premier domestic 50-match tournament, Shami is the leading wicket-taker in Bengal with 15 wickets to his credit from seven innings, an average of 14.93 and an economy rate of 8.90. After the VHT, Shami will feature in the rest of the Ranji Trophy season followed by the IPL where he will play for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) after being bought in the IPL 2026 auction for Rs 10 crore.
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Issued by:
Rishabh Beniwal
Published on:
January 4, 2026
