India, March 18 -- When BCCI announced its annual retainership contracts in February, Mohammed Shami's name was missing. If anything, that was a sign the board had decided to look toward younger talent.

But the pacer, who last played T20Is for India in February 2025 -- his last India outing was in the ODI Champions Trophy triumph in March last year -- has made a slow but steady recovery from a knee injury that looked like it had all but ended his career. The first signs appeared during a Ranji Trophy season in which he took 37 wickets at an average of 16.72 for Bengal. More importantly, he bowled 230.3 overs during the tournament.

In terms of fitness, he had clearly taken a significant step forward. It got him into the conversation agai...