Former Indian cricketer and current Bangladeshi coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla has criticized the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar for Mohammed Shami in the Indian squad for the ODIs against New Zealand. The squad for a three-match ODI series was announced on Saturday, January 3. Surprisingly, Shami’s name was missing again despite his consistent performances in domestic cricket this season..
Now Shukla didn’t mince his wordsin response to Shami’s constant disapproval. While supporting the bowler, Shukla said whatever happens to the right-arm pacer is very embarrassing despite his impressive performances in the domestic circuit in the current season. Shukla believes the veteran pacer has contributed significantly to domestic cricket compared to other international stars and deserves better recognition.
“The selection committee has done injustice to Mohammed Shami. No international player in the recent past has played domestic cricket with as much dedication as Shami. Even after toiling hard in domestic cricket, what the selection committee has done to Shami is a shame.””, Shukla was quoted as saying from Revsportz.
The Amroha-born player has been playing domestic cricket continuously following his criticism from the Indian side after the Champions Trophy despite being the highest wicket-taker for the side in the triumphant campaign. And has backed that up by performing brilliantly in domestic cricket. In the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025, he has taken 11 wickets in just 5 matches at an impressive average of 22.27.
Even in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025, the 35-year-old returned with the impressive figures of 16 wickets in just seven matches. Despite these remarkable performances, it seems the selectors are in the mood to move on from Shami and want to build a team for the future.. This makes the situation interesting to see if Shami can ever play for India again.
The Indian team is all set to face New Zealand in a three-match ODI series starting from January 11. Except Shami, star batsman Travel Giikwad was dropped from the squad despite his stellar century against South Africa, with vice-captain Shreyas Iyer set to make a positive comeback from his spleen injury. Meanwhile, the experienced duo of Jasprit Boemra and Hardik Pandya has also been rested.
India ODI squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravindra JadejaWashington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj
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