Mohammad Shami out of Bangladesh Tests

Mohammad Shami is set to miss the Test series against Bangladesh. As per the information coming from the Indian camp, the speedster has not fully recovered from the right shoulder strain that kept him out of the ongoing test series.

The 32 year old last featured for India during the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia last month. He was initially part of the ODI squad for the Bangladesh series but had to be withdrawn. Umran Malik was named as his replacement. 

However, for the Tests, there apparently is no replacement as more than 30 players are in Bangladesh, including those part of the India A squad. The Indian team will be free to retain any player if it wants. Anyway Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav are part of the squad alongside the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. They will also be soon accompanied by Sourabh Kumar, a left arm spin prodigy who will come in place of an injured Ravindra Jadeja. 

Same is the case for the ODI squad. Although three players – Kuldeep Sen, Deepak Chahar, and Rohit Sharma – are not ruled out of playing in the third and final ODI on December 10, no substitute has been chosen. Siraj, Thakur, and Umran are all eligible for selection, and according to selection committee sources, there is no pressing need to replace a series that has already been lost.

As far as the Indian skipper is concerned then he has arrived in Mumbai for scans following the injury he suffered during the penultimate ODI and a decision on his participation will be taken in the next 24 hours. If not for the opening game, Rohit’s availability for the second and third test will also be taken into consideration. Specialist Opener, Shubhman Gill is part of the Test setup. He can fill in and open the innings alongside KL Rahul. 

Meanwhile, the Indian Cricket Board is yet to fix a date or dates for interviewing candidates for the new selection committee. The procedure is supposed to be completed by December 15, but the members of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) - Ashok Malhotra, Jatin Paranjpe, and Sulakshana Naik - have received no information from the Indian Cricket Board thus far.

The board managers are reportedly shortlisting the applications, which number as many as 207. With the threshold of 30 first-class games, many former cricketers are qualified, and the response to the advertising was quite significant, according to sources.