New Delhi, Dec 14 (IANS): Senior fast-bowler Mohammed Shami is uncertain to play in India’s upcoming Test series against South Africa due to an ankle injury, which means that it won’t be a surprise if he’s officially ruled out from the tour.
On November 30, while announcing the squad for the tour of South Africa, Shami was included for the Test series. But the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had said that Shami is currently undergoing medical treatment and his availability is subject to fitness.
A report in Cricbuzz on Thursday said Shami will not be travelling to South Africa with the rest of the players picked for the Tests. “The last batch of players, including skipper Rohit Sharma, is scheduled to leave for Johannesburg on Friday (December 15), but the 33-year-old veteran pacer will not be among them,” it added.
The report also said apart from Rohit, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, and Harshit Rana will be flying out to South Africa on Friday via Dubai. As of now, more than 75 men’s cricketers are on tour of South Africa, turning out for either senior men’s team and India ‘A’ team.
“The selectors have not named a replacement for Shami yet, but the belief is that with many players already in South Africa for T20Is, ODIs, Tests, and A series, one of the pacers can be co-opted into the Test set-up,” added the report.
It further said, Shami, the leading wicket-taker in 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup, had been suffering from ankle pain, and it is learned that he had carried the tournament bowling workload despite the pain, and particularly experienced discomfort while landing on his right foot at the point of delivering the ball.
India’s two Tests against South Africa will be played in Centurion from December 26-30 and in Cape Town from January 3-7, 2024. It is India's second series of the 2023-2025 World Test Championship cycle, after winning the two-Test series in West Indies in July by 1-0.
The last time India played a Test series in South Africa was in December 2021-January 2022. At that time, India won the first Test in Centurion, before South Africa bounced back to win matches in Johannesburg and Cape Town to eventually claim the series 2-1, thus increasing the visitors’ search for a first-ever Test series win in the country.