'At least he'll score more than Rohit, Kohli': Mohammed Shami blasts 32 off 17 balls, his highest T20 score, in SMAT

Mohammed Shami put up a stunning late assault and gave a reminder that he is a very handy bat lower down the order apart from being lethal with the ball in hand

Indian fans are waiting with bated breath for Mohammed Shami to join the Test squad in Australia and release some pressure off the shoulders of Jasprit Bumrah. However, the fast bowler on Monday provided a reminder that he is a more than handy lower-order batter in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament.

Bengal batted first set up a score of 159/9 largely thanks to a stunning late assault from Shami.(BCCI)

Bengal batted first set up a score of 159/9 largely thanks to a stunning late assault from Shami. He finished unbeaten on 32 off 17 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes. He hit two sixes and a four in the last over, hitting boundaries off the last two balls of the Bengal innings. Shami's stature as a lower-order batter has been on a steady rise over the past few years. He famously turned the 2nd Test against England at Lord's around in 2021 by smashing 56 off 70 balls in an unbeaten 89-run ninth-wicket stand with Jasprit Bumrah.

Here is a video of a part of Shami's assault:

There were a number of reactions to the innings on social media:

Shami hasn't played international cricket since the 2023 World Cup final and it is only recently that he has returned to senior cricket in the domestic circuit. India, meanwhile, have sorely missed his services in Australia with there being a significant drop-off in quality whenever Bumrah has been taken off the attack. Bumrah was player of the match as India won the first Test in Perth but they then lost the second Test by 10 wickets.

While both Bumrah and Siraj took four wickets in the first innings of the pink-ball Test, the former went at an economy of 2.65 while Siraj went at 4. Rana got now wickets in the first innings for 86 runs. Australia only had 19 runs to chase in the second innings.

India captain Rohit Sharma said after the defeat in the second Test hat the team is “very careful” about flying Shami Down Under, as it wants to ensure the bowler's full fitness. “Definitely, that door is very much open. But we are just monitoring him because while playing in Syed Mushtaq Ali (Trophy), he again got some swelling in his knee,” Rohit said.

“It obviously hampers his preparation to come and play a Test. We want to be very careful, we don't want to bring him here in a situation where he plays and he pulls up sore. We want to be 100 percent sure with him. It has been such a long time that he has not played cricket, and to be fair to him, we don't want to put pressure on him to come here and do the job for the team," he said.