Why Mohammed Shami was omitted from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 squad: An insight

New Delhi: The BCCI announced on Friday (October 25) the squad for Team India for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Series against Australia. The Indian cricket team is gearing up for a historic five-match Test series against Australia, which will mark the first time India will play a five-Test series in Australia. The series is scheduled to begin on November 22, with the first Test to be held at Perth Stadium. One notable absence from the 18-member squad is star pacer Mohammed Shami, who has not played any competitive cricket since the 2023 ODI World Cup last November. However, Shami is expected to make a return to competitive cricket by playing two matches for Bengal in the ongoing Ranji Trophy.

Why was Mohammed not included in the squad for India vs Australia series (BGT):

In the conversation with India.com, Mohammed Shami said “When a human is out for a year from International Cricket, the person who leaves his home, and family and is preparing for the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Everyone has watched my Bengaluru training video, what do you think what are the chances of mine to enter into the squad for the Border-Gavskar Trophy?”, said Mohammed Shami.

Further, upon asked about his chances of inclusion in the Border-Gavskar Trophy, he assured it as “100%”, he said it as “You should have broken into the headline that there is a 100% chance for Mohammed Shami to play in Border Gavaskar-Trophy”. he added.

The Bengal team management is hopeful that the 34-year-old will turn up in their two away fixtures in Round 3 and 4, respectively. Shami is likely to join the Bengal team in Bengaluru ahead of their match against Karnataka, starting on November 6. The speedster is also tipped to play in the next match in Indore against Madhya Pradesh.

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Squads for India’s tour of South Africa & Border-Gavaskar Trophy announced #TeamIndia | #SAvIND | #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/Z4eTXlH3u0

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 25, 2024

India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed

Kuldeep Yadav was unavailable for selection for the tour of Australia since he was referred to The BCCI Centre of Excellence after the end of the ongoing Test series against New Zealand for long-term resolution of his chronic left groin issue.