The upcoming IPL 2025 auction will have almost all the quality Indian pacers in the player pool, with most of them expected to fetch a huge amount. Some are specialists in a particular phase, while the best add value in every phase and bowl all the tough overs for their teams.

Among them is Mohammed Shami, one of the country’s most skilful pacers – he has several variants and possesses some threat. Furthermore, his significant progress as a white-ball bowler greatly increased his value and he showed what he could do in the IPL and World Cup last year before an injury layoff.

While he is expected to start a bidding war, Sanjay Manjrekar feels teams could be cautious with his recent injury problems as he may collapse mid-season. Speaking on Star Sports, Manjrekar said his fitness could play a role in reducing his price in the impending auction.

“There will definitely be interest from teams, but given Shami’s injury history (and this recent one took a significant amount of time to recover from) there is always concern about a potential in-season breakdown. If a franchise invests heavily and then loses it mid-season, its options become limited. This concern could cause a drop in its price.”

Mohammed Shami finally returned after major surgery and setbacks

Mohammed Shami was out of competitive cricket for almost a year after undergoing major surgery on his left Achilles tendon in London in February this year. Since then, he attempted a comeback several times, but a further setback kept him out of action before finally getting back into shape.

He returned to his home team, Bengal, last week in a Ranji Trophy match, and after struggling a bit in the opening phase, gained pace and bowled beautifully. Shami grabbed four wickets in the first innings and three in the second dig to finish the game with seven dismissals.

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Furthermore, he also scored a vital 37 in the second innings with the willow. Those runs ultimately made the difference as Bengal won a thriller by 11 runs.

Shami has been drafted into the Bengal squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and will look to make an impact again. If all goes well, he could feature in the final phase of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

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