There was no place in the squad for pacer Mohammed Shami as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced Team India’s squad for the upcoming Test tour of Australia. With the series comprising of five-matches, stretching between November 2024 and January 2025, the BCCI named a strong 18-man squad, in addition to three travelling reserves. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and pacer Harshit Rana received maiden call-ups. India captain Rohit Sharma is expected to miss one of the first two Tests due to personal reasons.
Keeping that in mind, Bengal captain Abhimanyu Easwaran too has been included in the 18-member squad. Easwaran has scored a truckload of runs in domestic circuit and he could make his debut in either Perth or Adelaide Test.
Meanwhile, pacer Shami, who has been recovering from a long-term ankle injury, failed to make the cut despite resuming training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
However, according to the Indian Express, Shami could still be added to the squad on one condition.
“A call on Mohammed Shami’s inclusion will be taken after the pacer proves his fitness in the Ranji Trophy. As reported earlier, Shami is expected to play Bengal’s fourth round match against Karnataka in Bengaluru in the first week of November after Diwali,” the report claimed.
Shami, who has been out of action since last year’s 50-over World Cup final due to an injury followed by a surgery, had recently said that though he started bowling but would only like to first play some domestic matches before getting into the national squad.
With Shami absent, the selectors have bolstered the pace attack by including youngsters Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana, who will hope to join Bumrah, Mohd Siraj and Akash Deep in the pace attack in the Test series against Australia which will follow soon after the ongoing home series against New Zealand.
Pacers Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, and Khaleel Ahmed will be travelling reserves for the five-match series.
(With IANS Inputs)