India pacer Mohammed Shami made his much-awaited return to Team India during the third T20I match against England on Tuesday in Rajkot.

Shami, who last played for India in the ICC World Cup 2023 final against Australia, suffered an ankle injury after the tournament and had to undergo surgery. He then made a remarkable comeback in domestic cricket, which paved his way back into the Indian team. In the third match of the five-match series, Shami replaced pacer Arshdeep Singh in the Playing XI.

However, this return was also not a memorable one as the 34-year-old pacer went wicketless. In his three-over quote, where he conceded 25 runs, Shami did cause some trouble to the English batters with his ultimate swing.

In his second over, Shami bowled a beautiful outswinger to Jos Buttler, which left him utterly stunned. Seeing this delivery, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, who was commentating during the match, praised Shami.

"Oh! Look at the seam position, just shaping away and ramrod straight, lovely," said Gavaskar during the match.

Talking about the match, Indian batters faltered against an incisive England bowling attack as the visitors raised their game in a must-win scenario to win the third T20I by 26 runs and keep the five-match series alive.

Mohammed Shami made a solid comeback to international cricket after 14 months but it was Varun Chakravarthy's bowling effort that stood out as his five-wicket haul helped India limit England to 171/9.

India should have chased down the target but the batters could only manage 145/9 in 20 overs. India still lead the series 2-1 with the fourth game scheduled in Pune on January 31.

"I felt there would be little dew later in the day. I feel we had the game in our hands when Hardik and Axar were batting. Credit goes to Adil Rashid, he bowled really well. That's why he is a world class bowler. He didn't allow us to rotate the strike. That's why we had a lot of spinners in our side as well," said India captain Suryakumar Yadav after the loss.