‘He is not fully…’: BCCI makes bold call, excludes Mohammed Shami from England test squad

BCCI on Shami’s exclusion from the India Test squad

Shubman Gill was named the new captain of India’s Test team, and Rishabh Pant was appointed vice-captain for the upcoming five-match series in England. The selectors’ leadership choices came as no surprise after the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Promising left-hander B Sai Sudharsan also received his first-ever Test call-up.

The squad also includes Karun Nair, who returns to the Test team after seven years. A major exclusion was fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who was ruled out due to fitness concerns for the long series.

“Last year or so we have looked at Shubman (for leadership). We are hopeful he is the guy who is going (to take the team forward). It is a high pressure job but he is a terrific player. We wish him all the best,” said chief selector Ajit Agarkar after announcing the squad.

When talking about Mohammad Shami, he said. “His workload is not where it needs to be. We were hoping he will be available but it is unfortunate. At the moment he is not fully fit.”

India’s Squad for Test tour of England: Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, K L Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun nair, Nitish Redddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhurv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep singh and Kuldeep Yadav.