India pacer Mohammad Shami took the cricketing world by storm with his remarkable display in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. He was included in the playing XI after India were forced to alter their playing combination due to Hardik Pandya’s ankle injury.

As it turned out, the right-arm quick grabbed the opportunity with both hands, finishing the tournament as the leading wicket-taker with 24 scalps to his name from seven matches at an incredible average of 10.70 with three five-wicket hauls.

Now, a report claims that Shami was struggling with a ‘chronic heel issue’ right through the mega event and took injections to deal with the pain.

“Shami has a chronic left heel issue. A lot of people don’t know that he took injections regularly during World Cup and played the entire tournament through pain,” news agency PTI quoted an unnamed a former Bengal teammate of Shami as saying.

“But you must understand that as you grow older, recovery from each niggle or big injury takes that more time,” he added.

Shami has been out of action ever since India’s World Cup 2023 final loss to Australia on November 19. He was initially named in the Test squad for the ongoing South Africa tour but couldn’t travel to the Rainbow Nation due to ankle issues.

Team India missed the services of Shami in the opening Test against South Africa at Centurion as they succumbed to an innings and 32-run defeat.

Jasprit Bumrah was the lone bright spot in India’s abysmal display as Mohammed Siraj, debutant Prasidh Krishna and all-rounder Shardul Thakur struggled with their line and length, resulting in South Africa piling up 408 in the first innings on a track that heavily assisted the pace bowlers.

After this embarrassing defeat, India have added Avesh Khan to the Test squad as a replacement for the injured Mohammad Shami. The second and final Test is slated to get underway on January 3 in Cape Town.

(With PTI Inputs)