The fast bowler sustained an injury while batting on the third day in Adelaide
Fast pitcher Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of the rest of the India tour of Australia. Shami is known to have suffered a fracture to her right forearm, which was revealed after she underwent scans immediately after the Adelaide test ended. The news will be a crushing blow for India, which lost that test within three days of being eliminated for its lowest test total.
The BCCI has yet to make an announcement about the development. As for Shami’s replacement, the team management must choose one of the trio of players: Kartik Tyagi, T Natarajan and Shardul Thakur. By the way, none of these three fast men were part of the original test squad. Both Natarajan and Thakur fell behind after the cue ball leg of the Australia tour to join Tyagi as net pitchers.
Shami, who batted at No. 11, suffered the injury while clumsily defending himself on a short delivery from Pat Cummins on Saturday. After being taped onto her right forearm, Shami decided to move on, but then indicated that she couldn’t continue and returned to the dressing room. He also did not return to bowling in the fourth inning.
In the post-match presentation, India captain Virat Kohli said Shami was “sore” and could not even raise his bowling hand. Shami’s absence means that the Indian fast bowling attack is now left alone with Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj. Both Saini and Siraj are uncovered in test cricket.
In addition to Shami’s absence, India will be without Kohli, who will miss the rest of the series when she returns home from paternity leave.
Who should replace Shami?
The Indian team management has to make a difficult decision on who should replace Shami in the test team. Thakur, who plays for Mumbai, is the most experienced sailor among the reserves, with 206 wickets at an average of 28.55 in first-class cricket. Natarajan, a left-arm closer, worked his way up the India limited-balance squads for the Australian tour following his impressive performances at the IPL for Sunrirsers Hyderabad. In first-class cricket, Natarajan, who represents Tamil Nadu, has limited experience having collected 64 wickets in 20 matches at 27:03.
Tyagi, 20, was part of the India U19 team that reached the World Cup final in South Africa earlier this year. Tyagi, a fast pitcher with a right arm, played for the Indians in the first warm-up game against Australia A recently, with no ground. He has played two matches for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy, collecting three wickets.
Ishant Sharma’s question
Shami’s injury could also force the selectors and team management to reflect on their decision not to include Ishant Sharma on the test team despite being declared fit by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in November.
Sharma, who was injured during the IPL while playing for the Delhi Capitals, went to the NCA in Bengaluru in September and was declared fit around November 19. However, in its evaluation report to BCCI and team management, the NCA noted that Sharma would have to leverage his bowling workload to be fully fit to be selected for the test series.
At his first press conference on the eve of the Australia tour in November, even Kohli wondered why Sharma was not completing his rehab with the rest of the team, which would have kept him in contention for the test series.
It is understood that BCCI wanted to make sure Sharma was fully fit and ready for the long term, as India is scheduled to play a four-game test series against England at home shortly after the Australia tour. India will then tour England for another series of five tests in mid-2021.
On November 26, the BCCI said that although Sharma had “fully recovered” from the lateral stress he suffered during the IPL, “he is increasing his workload to achieve probationary fitness” and was “discarded” from the border. -Gavaskar Trophy.
Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor of ESPNcricinfo
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