The selection committee headed by Ajit Agarkar has come under fire from former India cricketer and current Bengal coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla for excluding Mohammed Shami from the Indian team for the ODIs against New Zealand. On Saturday, January 3, the squad for a three-match ODI series was revealed. Despite Shami’s steady play in domestic cricket this season, his name was surprisingly absent once more.
Now, in response to Shami’s persistent rejection, Shukla did not hold back. Shukla, who supported the bowler, stated that despite the right-arm pacer’s strong performances in the domestic circuit this season, whatever is going on with him is extremely disheartening. Compared to other international players, Shukla believes the seasoned pacer has made a substantial contribution to domestic cricket and merits greater acknowledgement.
“Mohammed Shami has been treated unfairly by the selecting committee. Shami has recently played domestic cricket with more passion than any other international player.
Shukla was cited by Revsportz as saying, “What the selection committee has done with Shami is shameful, even after toiling hard in domestic cricket.”
Despite being the team’s joint-highest wicket-taker during the winning campaign, the Amroha native has been playing domestic cricket nonstop since being ignored by the Indian team following the Champions Trophy. and has demonstrated this by playing outstanding domestic cricket. With an outstanding average of 22.27, he has taken 11 wickets in just 5 games in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025.
The 35-year-old returned with the remarkable stats of 16 wickets in just seven games, even in the just finished Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025. It seems that the selectors are ready to move on from Shami and want to assemble a team for the future in spite of these outstanding achievements. This makes it intriguing to watch if Shami would ever be able to represent India.
The three-match ODI series between India and New Zealand is scheduled to begin on January 11. In addition to Shami, star batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad was left out of the team despite his outstanding century against South Africa. Vice-captain Shreyas Iyer is expected to return to action after recovering from a spleen ailment. Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, two seasoned players, have also been rested.
India’s ODI team:
Captain Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, deputy captain Shreyas Iyer, wicketkeepers KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and Mohammed Siraj
Home