The beleaguered Indian team could get the Mohammed Shami boost during the challenging Australia tour after the pace-bowling stalwart made an impressive comeback from injury by grabbing four wickets in a Ranji Trophy match on Thursday. Playing his first red-ball game in more than a year, Shami, who represents Bengal, bowled four spells across 57 overs in Madhya Pradesh’s first innings and returned with figures of 19-4-54-4.

His victims included MP skipper Shubham Sharma, all-rounder Saransh Jain and two tail-enders, with three of the four batters being bowled while one edged to keeper Wriddhiman Saha. While this is great news for the Indian team, it is understood that the national selection committee will look at how his body holds up in the second innings as well and whether there is any swelling or pain at the end of the game.