Mohammed Shami to spearhead Bengal pace attack in Vijay Hazare Trophy

Shami's fitness has been a subject of debate in recent times after the pacer missed out on selection.

Kolkata: Out-of-favour India pacer Mohammed Shami, who has been in impressive form on the domestic circuit with 36 wickets across formats, has been named in Bengal’s squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day competition.

Shami, who has not played for India for a while and was overlooked for the recent series against South Africa, has enjoyed a strong return to competitive cricket for Bengal following a lengthy injury lay-off.

Shami’s fitness has been a subject of debate in recent times after the pacer missed out on selection.

However, despite the absence of a national call-up, the senior fast bowler has been a standout performer in domestic tournaments.

Beginning with the red-ball season, Shami picked up 20 wickets from four Ranji Trophy matches at an average of 18.60, including a 5/38, as Bengal remain unbeaten from five outings after securing three outright wins to sit atop Group C.

He carried his form into the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, finishing as Bengal’s leading wicket-taker with 16 scalps from seven matches at an average of 14.93.

In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Shami will spearhead Bengal’s three-pronged pace attack, which also includes India pacers Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar.

In the squad announced on Friday, top-order batter Abhimanyu Easwaran was named captain.

Bengal have been placed in Elite Group B and will begin their campaign against Vidarbha in Rajkot on December 24. The other teams in the group are Assam, Baroda, Jammu and Kashmir, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh.

The tournament will be held across Ahmedabad (Group A), Rajkot (Group B), Jaipur (Group C) and Alur (Group D), while Bengaluru’s Centre of Excellence will host the knockout stages from January 12-18.

Bengal squad:

Abhimanyu Easwaran (Captain), Anustup Majumdar, Abishek Porel (WK), Sudip Kr Gharami, Sumanta Gupta, Sumit Nag (WK), Chandrahas Dash, Shahbaz Ahmed, Karan Lal, Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, Sayan Ghosh, Ravi Kumar, Aamir Gani, Vishal Bhati, Ankit Mishra.