Laxmi Ratan Shukla, a former India cricketer and current Bengal coach, has criticised Ajit Agarkar’s selection committee for failing to include Mohammed Shami
The Indian squad for the ODIs against New Zealand. The team for a three-match One-Day International series was announced on Saturday, January 3. Shami’s name was unexpectedly absent once more, despite his solid success in domestic cricket this season.
Shukla did not mince words as she responded to Shami’s repeated rudeness. Shukla defended the bowler, saying that whatever is going on with the right-arm pacer is quite shameful, despite his good performances in the domestic circuit this season. Shukla believes the experienced pacer has made a big contribution to domestic cricket compared to other international stars and deserves more credit.
“The selection committee has done an injustice with Mohammed Shami. No international player has played domestic cricket with as much dedication as Shami in the recent past. Even after toiling hard in domestic cricket, what the selection committee has done with Shami is shameful”, Shukla was quoted as saying by Revsportz.
The Amroha-born has been playing domestic cricket continuously after his snub from the Indian side after the Champions Trophy, despite being the joint-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 picked up 11 wickets in just 5 matches with 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 appears that the selectors are in a mood to move on from Shami, and want to build a team for the future. This makes the situation interesting to see whether Shami can play for India ever again.
The Indian team is all set to face New Zealand in a three-match ODI series, starting from January 11. Apart from Shami, star batter Ruturaj Gaikwad found himself dropped from the squad despite his stellar century against South Africa, as the vice-captain Shreyas Iyer is set to return to the reacting positively to the recovery of his spleen injury. Meanwhile, the experienced duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, too, has 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 Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj
India
