File photo of India seamer Mohammed Shami.Photo: X/Mohammed Shami File photo of India seamer Mohammed Shami.Photo: X/Mohammed Shami

Veteran India pacer Mohammed Shami will be rested for Bengal's Vijay Hazare Trophy opener against Delhi on Saturday in Hyderabadrich9, the Cricket Association of Bengal announced on Thursday. (More Cricket News)

Shami, who last played for India at the 2023 ODI World Cup, recently returned to domestic cricket after a lengthy injury layoff due to ankle surgery.

He has since been recuperating at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

While Shami made an impressive comeback taking seven wickets to help Bengal clinch their first win of in this season's Ranji Trophy, he took nine wickets in the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

However, concerns have remained about swelling on his knee, which surfaced during the domestic T20 competition.

After the drawn third Test in Brisbane, Rohit Sharma sounded miffed after being persistently asked about an update on Shami's availability.

"I think it's high time somebody from NCA talks about him, where he is rehabbing... Those guys are the ones who need to come up and give us some kind of update."

"I understand he's playing a lot of cricket back home, but there have been some complaints about his knee as well. We won't take any risks unless we are 200% sure about his fitness.”

Border-Gavaskar Trophy: 'We Are Not Going To Take Any Risk On Shami', Clarifies Rohit Sharma

The first match of the final round of group matches took place between Korea and Malaysia and resulted in a 3-3 draw. The splitting of points confirmed Korea's qualification to the semifinal. The draw also ensured that Pakistan would finish second in the group regardless of their result in their last group match against India.

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The India-Pakistan hockey rivalry has lost its sheen in recent times. Hockey in Pakistan has been in a freefall for the last decade or so while Indians have made a tremendous comeback in the same time period. The two countries used to rule world hockey at one point and the seeds for it were sown during the British rule in India.

BY PTI

Shami's participation in the Vijay Hazare Trophy is seen as a key step towards determining his availability for the upcoming international assignments, including the Champions Trophy.

Seamer Mukesh Kumar, who was in Australia as one of the bowling reserves, is also part of the Sudip Kumar Gharami-led Bengal.

Bengal Squad: Sudip Kumar Gharami (captain), 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 Kumarrich9, Mohammed Kaif, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Sayan Ghosh, Kanishk Seth.

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