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The India team is set to be without veteran pacer Mohammad Shami, who has played 17 T20I matches for the national team, during the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in Australia, kicking off in October. A BCCI source told ANI said that the selectors are no longer looking at Shami for the T20 World Cup. Instead, the young bowlers will be chosen to play for the country.
The side are currently in England, preparing for the upcoming rescheduled 5th Test, which will be followed by three T20Is and as many ODI matches as both teams begin to figure out their squads for the tournament. This comes after India completed a T20I series whitewash against Ireland, led by Hardik Pandya.
Shami is a regular in the Indian Premier League (IPL), winning the tournament for the first time with Gujarat Titans (GT), picking up 20 wickets in 16 matches as well. The 31-year-old, who has also made his place in red-ball cricket, might now find it difficult to fight his way into the T20 World Cup in Australia.
Talking to ANI about the future of Shami's limited-overs cricket, the source said, "The selectors are not looking for Shami for the T20 World Cup as he is not fit for the format. The selectors now want to invest in young bowlers. They want to give him as many chances as possible before the World Cup in Australia, they can choose Bhuvneshwar Kumar as one of the senior bowlers, but maybe Shami will not be able to go to Australia for the T20 World Cup this time."
During his career with the national team, Shami has played 59 Tests, 79 ODIs, and 17 T20I matches for India so far. He has 214, 148, and 18 wickets respectively, taking his total tally in international cricket to 380 wickets so far for India. He is also a part of the Test team for the final Test and will most likely partner Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj in the pace attack. Meanwhile, Bumrah is likely to captain the side in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, who test Covid positive ahead of the final Test.
