Mohammed Shami has been named in Bengal's 20-member squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy as he looks to prove his fitness for the ongoing Test series in Australia.
After the second Test in Adelaide, Rohit Sharma had said the "door is very much open" for Shami to join the squad in Australia, but he reiterated caution over his fitness. India are currently playing the third Test in Brisbane; the fourth one starts on December 26 in Melbourne.
Shami, who last played for India at the 2023 ODI World Cup, had an ankle surgery this February. He returned to action with the Ranji Trophy in November and took seven wickets in the match against Madhya Pradesh.
After that, he played all nine games for Bengal in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, taking 11 wickets at an economy of 7.85. But during the tournament, he got some swelling in his knee, which hampered his readiness for Test cricket.
Apart from Shami, seamer Mukesh Kumar is also part of the Bengal side which will be led by Sudip Kumar Gharami. The team will begin their campaign against Delhi in Hyderabad on December 21. The players will leave Kolkata for Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Squad: 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