Why Mohammed Shami is not playing: The Indian fast bowler hasn’t played a T20I since ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
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India captain Rohit Sharma has not only won his third toss in a row but also elected to bowl first thrice in a row now. With India winning the toss in the ongoing first T20I against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram, Sharma preferred to chase a target on a “good wicket”.
Starting a three-match T20I series against South Africa a couple of days after finishing one against Australia, India made four changes to their Playing XI as wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and fast bowlers Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep Singh have been given opportunities tonight.
The quartet has been included in place of all-rounder Hardik Pandya, spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah as these players have been left out due to various reasons.
Why Mohammed Shami is not playing T20 series between India and South Africa?
A major absentee from the Indian T20I setup since ICC T20 World Cup 2021 is fast bowler Mohammed Shami. Not part of any Indian squad till Asia Cup 2022, Shami’s continual absence in this format had hinted at selectors considering options other than him.
Having said that, the 32-year old player was named among four standbys in India’s ICC T20 World Cup 2022 squad. Subsequently, Shami was also named in the Indian squads for Australia and South Africa T20Is.
However, an elongated combat with COVID-19 forced Shami to miss both the home bilateral series. Replaced by pacer Umesh Yadav for both the series, it was only this afternoon that Shami uploaded an Instagram story sharing a negative COVID-19 report. With his testing negative now, it will be interesting to see if Shami is included into the squad as a 17th player or not.
Highest wicket-taker for defending champions Gujarat Titans in Indian Premier League 2022, Shami has mediocre T20I numbers picking 18 wickets in 17 matches at an average and economy rate of 31.55 and 9.54 respectively.
