CHENNAI: Just as artificial light was beginning to take over from natural light at the Niranjan Shah Stadium at Rajkot on Tuesday, the familiar but slightly forgotten sight of Mohammed Shami steaming in with a white ball next to the main pitch played itself out. Since that fateful evening against Australia in Ahmedabad on November 19, 2023, all cricketing stakeholders — the paying public, commentators, broadcasters, the board and the players — have yearned for him. It’s definitely not been a case of out of sight, out of mind. If anything, it’s been a case of absence making the heart grow fonder.

It’s easy to why the speedster, at 34 very much in the December second week of his career, has this sort of reputation. Even if he doesn’t make things happen, the mere possibility of having a Shami in the XI is akin to that of a solid fixed deposit in the bank during a bear run. He’s a totally bankable bowler; not only safe as houses but also capable of conjuring magic. With Jasprit Bumrah in the set-up, India’s ceiling is already high. But when both of them operate in tandem, the floor and the ceiling raise. It’s why the 2023 World Cup, despite the unhappy ending, is a happy memory for the scores of fans who followed the hosts’ sojourn either in the stands or via TV. In a country where there is a cult around batters and column inches dedicated to the cricketers who score runs, Shami was instrumental in making bowling look cool.

It’s a similar story in red-ball cricket. Remember Virat Kohli’s emotionally-charged ‘they should feel hell?’ line from the 2021 Test against England? Or the countless times when India won a match they had no right to or when India won a series home or away? Shami has been ever present, like a homing beacon.

Then, cruelly, the light left the building. With it, India’s imposing records began to fade away. Home Tests were squandered. The BGT was surrendered. Sure, they did a win T20 World Cup in his absence but sentences beginning with ‘If Shami was there, this…’ had become de rigueur.