Recent reports have suggested that India's stand players — Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi and Deepak Chahar — who are a part of the squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, will also travel to Australia along with the main team. The selection committee, the team management and BCCI have taken a call on the four standbys, deciding that they will fly along with the team to Australia and be a part of the main training regimens and be ready to be available to join the squad whenever needed.
According to a Cricbuzz report, the likes of Shami and Chahar will be available to the team management if there is an issue with any of the fast bowlers named in the 15-member squad. The squad welcomes back Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel but given their injury concerns, Shami and Chahar will be expected to step up in their shoes.
In addition to them, pacers Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and all-rounder Hardik Pandya — have been asked to report to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for conditioning-related work during the upcoming limited-overs home series against Australia and South Africa.
Mohammed Shami, who was not picked in the main T20 World Cup squad, will be returning to play T20Is for India after a long time, during the home series against Australia and South Africa.
He last played during India's disastrous Twenty20 World Cup in UAE in 2021, almost a year ago when he finished with an underwhelming six for 140 in five games and a tournament-high economy rate of 8.84. The Indian team is scheduled to fly to Australia on October 6 after the last T20I against South Africa on October 4 in Indore.
The marquee tournament in Australia is from October 16 to November 13.
