'I don't know why...': Harbhajan Singh slams selectors over Mohammed Shami's repeated India snub

Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh was critical of the selectors for not bringing back Mohammed Shami into the squad and snubbing him from assignments across all three formats. Notably, the pacer hasn't been picked in India's squad since the conclusion of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. Though the 35-year-old has performed well at the domestic circuit with Bengal, he has still not been called back to the team.

Harbhajan raised questions over Shami's repeated snub and pointed out how the lack of experience among the bowlers is hurting the current Indian team. These comments come after South Africa chased down a mammoth 360-run target against India in the second ODI as the bowlers completely failed to stop the run-flow at any point of the visitors' innings.

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“Where is Shami? I don’t know why Shami is not playing. I get it, you have Prasidh, he is a good bowler, but he still has a lot to learn. You had good bowlers, and you have slowly sidelined them. With Bumrah, this is a different bowling attack, and without Bumrah, it is entirely different attack altogether. We have to learn the art of winning games without Jasprit Bumrah," Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.

“In England, without Bumrah, Siraj was unbelievable, fantastic. India won all the Tests where Bumrah did not feature. But, in shorter formats, we need to find people who can win you games, whether it be fast bowling or spin. Find spinners who can come in and take wickets. There is Kuldeep, but what about the rest?” he added.

India's poor bowling effort in the series

Though India had won the first ODI against South Africa, the latter had managed to score 332 runs after being handed a target of 350. This once again showed that a lot of work needs to be done when it comes to the Men in Blue's bowling department. The likes of Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna have all turned out to be incredibly expensive and have leaked a lot of runs.

Series finale set to be held soon

They will be hoping to improve their performance in the series deciding third ODI against the Proteas that will take place on December 6 in Visakhapatnam.