Mohammed Shami should have 'honest conversation' regarding his future under Gautam Gambhir: Paras Mhambrey

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Mohammad Shami will need to have an honest conversation with himself and other stakeholders regarding his future with the Indian cricket team, former India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey has reckoned.

The star pacer has been out of action ever since India's World Cup 2023 campaign in which he emerged as the leading wicket-taker. Shami underwent a surgery on his Achilles tendon in February. He is reportedly in the final stage of his rehabilitation and can make a comeback with the Test series against Bangladesh.

Shami, who will turn 34-year-old on September 3, recently featured on a YouTube podcast and said that he had no plans to retire from any format, however Mhambrey has reckoned that the player might have to plan otherwise to extend his career.

“You have to give him that choice, talk to him. What is that thing you want, right? What is your plan, what where do you look at? Obviously you have your trainers coming in fitness guys coming in and S&C (strength and conditioning) guys coming in, your doctors coming in and they should be on boards," Paras Mhambrey said while talking with News18 CricketNext about Shami’s future under India’s new head coach Gautam Gambhir.

“Where do you look at? Do you want to play what format you want to play? You want to play why do you want to play red (Test)? You want to play all and just kind of have a conversation very honest conversation saying okay fine you looking at maybe two, three, four years whatever. Have that conversation that okay fine with white ball and red ball this is the amount of games that we have, this amount of bowling you will have to do. The choice is his and you have to give him that,” Mhambrey added.

“You may sometimes have to challenge him as well, saying that he may have a certain format in the mind or he may feel as a player, I feel like I can play all three format, but you’ve got to take realistic calls. Is it really beneficial? Is it how valuable you are for the team? And that Shami is a valuable player for the team, right? We need to make sure that he’s there for the next three, four years. So the purpose of, if we can have him for the next three years, and how do we create a path for him? So have that conversation with him,” the former Indian bowling coach concluded.

Mohammed Shami has played a total of 64 Tests, 101 ODIs and 23 T20Is for India. He is expected to play a crucial role in the upcoming few months in which India will play 10 Test matches in five months.