Anil Kumble provides fitness update on Mohammed Shami ahead of IPL 2021

Anil Kumble, head coach of Punjab Kings, the IPL franchise Mohammed Shami is part of, has finally provided an update as to how the fast bowler is faring.

Ever since Mohammed Shami fractured his farm during the first Test against Australia in December of last year, there is yet to be an official confirmation about his road to recovery or fitness. It's been over three months that Shami was ruled out of the Indian team but so far nothing was announced as far as his recovery in concerned.

Mohammed Shami in the nets for Punjab Kings last season. (Punjab Kings/Twitter)

However, Anil Kumble, head coach of Punjab Kings, the IPL franchise Shami is a part of, has finally provided an update as to how the fast bowler is faring. Kumble informed that Shami is 'good to go' and that everyone in the franchise is looking forward to him playing the 14th edition of the IPL starting April 9.

"He is fine as far as I know. He is coming to the bio-bubble for the quarantine and he will be out in a few days. I know he hasn’t played any matches since his injury but he is good to go. We are really looking forward to him playing a few practice games and then getting ready for the first game," Kumble told Sportstar.

Having finished the previous season at 12 points from 14 matches, Punjab Kings went into the IPL 2021 auction with the fattest purse among all eight franchises, with a whopping ₹53.2 crore to spent. They ended up spending ₹14 crore on Australian pacer Jhye Richardson, while also acquiring the likes of Shahrukh Khan, Riley Meredith, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen and Saurabh Kumar.

"I think in the smaller auctions, people tend to forget that the options are minimal. Every team wants to reinforce and fill the gaps and since the options are lesser, you tend to spend a lot more on the players. We wanted to have a squad which gives us options in case we want to rotate a few of our fast bowlers. Even our young Indian pacers are exciting. It is a fairly long tournament and the conditions will be pretty hot," Kumble added.