T20 World Cup: The BCCI announced the 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup on Monday. They have gone with the players who were part of the Asia Cup and are playing regularly. However, the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel have made their comebacks to the team after recovering from injuries. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh have also retained their places in the team for the marquee tournament as the other two pace-bowling options.
Hardik Pandya will be the pace-bowling all-rounder, which will give him the option of being the fourth pacer in the team. However, ahead of the selection, there was speculation that Mohammed Shami might also make it into the team. But it didn’t happen, as he is not in the squad but is there as a standby player. Apart from that, the board has selected him for the home series against Australia and South Africa ahead of the World Cup. The decision to drop Shami didn’t go down well with many former players.T20 World Cup: Why haven’t they taken him? Why have you picked Harshal Patel? – Kris Srikkanth
Former Indian captain and ex-chief selector, Kris Srikkanth, looked baffled at the exclusion of Shami. He reckons that the veteran pacer would be an ideal choice in the Australian conditions. He also went on to question the decision of picking Harshal over Shami. In a discussion on Star Sports, he highlighted that the 32-year-old should have got the chance. He stated that with a high-arm action, Shami could have proved to be a wicket-taking option for India on the bouncy pitches in Australia. Srikkanth said,
The 32-year-old has played 19 ODIs in Australia and has 29 wickets to his name with a best of 4/63. However, in his only outing in Australia in T20Is, he hasn’t got any wickets. On the other hand, Harshal, who made his debut last November, has played 17 T20Is and has 23 wickets to his name. The former chief selector also pointed out that the 32-year-old performed well for Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2022, taking early wickets in the power play.