Mohammed Shami big loss for India, won't underestimate reserves: Australia coach
Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has claimed that Mohammed Shami is a big loss for India ahead of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy in November. However, McDonald admitted that they’re wary of the threat posed by the reserve players who have come in place of Shami in the squad for the series down under.
India has unveiled an extended 18-member squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, a five-Test series against Australia set to commence on November 22 in Perth. The lineup features established players like captain Rohit Sharma, vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah, and premier batter Virat Kohli, yet it also includes some unexpected selections and notable omissions, adding intrigue to the squad announcement.
One of the omissions was Shami, who hasn’t regained full fitness ahead of the tour, despite bowling to the Indian batters after the Bengaluru Test against New Zealand. Speaking to ABC’s Offsiders, McDonald said that Shami used to compliment Bumrah a lot and that would be something India will miss in the tour down under.
“Mohammed Shami is a big loss,” McDonald was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo on ABC’s Offsiders.
“The way our batters speak about his relentless nature, his line and lengths, the way he goes about his business, a real good complimenting skill set to Bumrah so think that one-two combo they’ll lack a little bit, and they’ll miss that.”
However, McDonald pointed out to how India’s reserve bowlers did a job for their side during the 2-1 series win in the 2020-21 season.
“But needless to say we saw what happened last time, they had reserves that came in and did the job as well so they cannot be underestimated at all,” he added.
Shami would comment after his exclusion and apologised to the BCCI and the fans for not being fit on time for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India’s Squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R. Ashwin, R. Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.
