India’s fast bowler Mohammed Shami received a warm welcome from his teammates in Brisbane ahead of the team’s warm-up match against Australia. Shami shared an emotional post on social media and stated that it required a lot of hard work to come back into the team.

The right-arm pacer was included in India’s squad for the home series against Australia and South Africa. However, unfortunately, he could not take part in either of the series after he tested positive for Covid-19. Shami then recovered at his farm and was later sent to the NCA for training.

Earlier, Shami was part of the standby players in the T20 World Cup squad but he was named Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement. However, the pacer from Bengal had last played a T20I match for India in the previous edition of the T20I showpiece.

“It required a lot of hard work, commitment and dedication to be back but the journey to Australia has been thoroughly rewarding. No better feeling than to be back with #TeamIndia and my boys. Looking forward to the World Cup,” Shami wrote.

Shami bowled only one over in the warm-up match against Australia at the Gabba, Brisbane, which India won by six runs on Monday.

Meanwhile, Shami will look to give his best to the team in the T20 World Cup. The fast bowler has all the experience under his belt and also has a good record in Australian conditions.

Shami can get the new ball to swing and seam in the Powerplays overs and he is going to hold the key for the team. India’s death bowling has been a concern in recent times and Shami would look to add value to the squad.

India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan on Sunday at the MCG.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami.

Standby Players: Mohammed Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur.