The veteran pacer returned to the Indian team after more than a year. Mohammed Shami last played for the Men in Blue during the 2023 World Cup final in November 2023. Immediately after the World Cup, he was sidelined due to an ankle injury and had to undergo surgery as well.
Unsurprisingly, the Indian cricketing fraternity was expecting the pacer's name in the India Playing XI for the series opener. However, the Indian team management decided against including Shami in the playing eleven for the first T20I.
And as soon as India's playing team was announced, the fans took to X to express their surprise over the decision. Here are some of the reactions.
— R A T N I S H (@LoyalSachinFan) January 22, 2025
— Sahil Malhotra (@Sahil_Malhotra1) January 22, 2025
— Jamie Alter ?? (@alter_jamie) January 22, 2025
— RR_Cricket_Book (@RRCricBook) January 22, 2025
— Ctrl C Ctrl Memes (@Ctrlmemes_) January 22, 2025
— Jay Prakash Rajpoot (@Jayrajpt) January 22, 2025
— Vishesh Roy (@vroy38) January 22, 2025
— Sumit Ghosh (@SumitG71) January 22, 2025
— रोहित जुगलान Rohit Juglan (@rohitjuglan) January 22, 2025
— Sahil Malhotra (@Sahil_Malhotra1) January 22, 2025
No Mohammed Shami in India's Playing XI:
We will look to bowl first. The wicket looks sticky, there will be dew later on. It will be heavier later on. The boys have been amazing. The preparations have been good, looking forward to this series. It's going to be great competition between both the sides. A good headache, we want to stick to our strengths," said Suryakumar.
Ravi Bishnoi and Varun Chakravarthy are the two frontline spinners in the team with Axar Patel being the other spin-bowling option.
Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy
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