Fitness issues, insufficient bowling load result in Shami missing out on England tour

New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Ahead of selecting India’s 18-member squad for the five-match tour of England, one of the biggest question marks was whether Mohammed Shami will be available for the trip starting on June 20.

On Saturday, chief selector Ajit Agarkar cleared the air by stating that Shami is not fit for the series, leaving a big void in India’s fast bowling scheme of things in England. Shami’s last Test was the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in June 2023, but he hasn’t had a chance to play Tests again.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar revealed at the BCCI HQ that Shami’s fitness issues and inability to be fit for Test match bowling workload meant he missed out on the England tour selection. Agarkar, though, didn’t specify the nature of Shami’s recent fitness setback, which in turn has prevented him from bowling for a longer time.

“He's been trying to get fit for the series, of course, but I think he's had a little bit of a setback over the last week or so, and he's got some MRIs done. I don't think he was going to be able to play five Tests, and at the moment, I don't think his workload is where it needs to be. So it's just the medical guys who have told us that he's been ruled out of this series.”

“Unfortunately, we were hoping that he's available for some part of the series at least, but if he's not fit at the moment, it's very difficult to keep waiting. So, it's rather planned with the guys who are fit and available. It's unfortunate - a bowler like him - you always want to try and pick, but at the moment he's not fit to be picked,” he said.

After undergoing ankle surgery to solve a long-standing Achilles issue in February 2024, Shami was on track to recover and be available for the home series against New Zealand. But a right knee swelling, despite making a comeback to the game via the Ranji Trophy game against Madhya Pradesh in Indore, meant that Shami was ruled out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia.

Though Shami was back to playing T20Is and ODIs against England at home earlier this year before featuring in India’s victorious ICC Champions Trophy campaign, where he took a five-wicket haul against Bangladesh, the veteran pacer was far from his convincing best for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2025 – seen from him picking only six wickets at an average of 56.16 and economy rate of 11.23 in nine matches.

Sources have told IANS that the BCCI medical team was in Lucknow on May 22 to assess the bowling fitness of Shami and Nitish Kumar Reddy ahead of SRH's game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on May 23. While the assessment of Nitish, who has recently been given a go-ahead with the ball by SRH, was positive, it wasn’t the same for Shami.

“Shami was asked to increase his bowling load and play at least one India A game, but it didn’t happen as the medical team found that his fitness levels are not up to the mark to play consistently on a tough and long tour in England. Hence, he didn’t find a place in the squad,” added the sources.

Shami had been part of India’s last three Test tours of England in 2014, 2018 and 2021, respectively. In 14 Tests in England, Shami picked 42 wickets at an average of 40.50. His best-ever showing on a tour of England was in 2018 when he picked up 16 wickets in five games.

With left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh picked for the England series, fitness issues and insufficient bowling load have meant that Shami’s future in the Indian Test team is now on a sticky wicket.

--IANS

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