SHAMI SHOWS GLIMPSES OF OLD SELF

Pacer impresses with four-fer on comeback in Ranji clash against MP, could fly to Australia should he remain fit

- GOMESH S

FOR an X (formerly known as Twitter) account with about 732,000 followers, every post from @BCCIdomestic (the handle of the Indian cricket body that gives updates on domestic cricket) garners a few hundred impressions to maybe a few thousand, especially if it's a video or picture. On Thursday, the post about a record-breaking partnership in the history of the tournament with pictures had received about 14K views as of 9 PM. On any other day, that would have gone down as the most viewed post from the handle. But Thursday wasn't going to be any other day.

Having taken the field after approximately 359 days since his last professional game, Mohammed Shami was having a ball in Indore. Making a comeback after a long injury lay-off, the veteran India pacer had already bowled ten overs for Bengal on day one of the Ranji Trophy clash against Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday. On Thursday, however, Shami was in his element. He bowled nine overs, gave away 20 runs while returning with four wickets something that will do the pacer's confidence a world of good.