Is it the end of the road for Mohammed Shami?

Mohammed Shami (AP Image)

The team is announced and while Mohammed Siraj has made a comeback, Mohammed Shami continues to be left out. The question to be asked is if this is the end of the road for Mohammed Shami? Have the selectors moved on from him and should he be communicated to if that’s the case? As a senior player should he be taken into confidence and told what the thought process is? In sum what’s the way forward for Mohammed Shami?

As the selectors were picking the team Shami was playing the Vijay Hazare Trophy game against Assam. He picked up 3 wickets for 55 runs in 9 overs and also scored a brisk 25 of 11 balls. He has now played every game for Bengal and has consistently picked up wickets. The question to ask is if its age that’s now the deciding factor in leaving him out? Is it ability or form or is it something else that we don’t know about?

In a press conference in Dubai held in September Chairman of Selectors Ajit Agarkar had suggested that he needed to see more of Shami in domestic cricket to know if he was back in full fitness. Since then Shami has played the Ranji Trophy, SMAT and the Vijay Hazare Trophy. If someone is playing domestic cricket consistently, fitness can no longer be the issue. Then what is it that he wasn’t considered for the New Zealand series?

The selectors have continued to repose faith in Prasidh Krishna. While there is no doubt that Prasidh has the ability to pick wickets, it is also true that he has conceded a lot of runs in the matches that he has played. In what is a relatively low key series with the focus more on T-20 cricket, should the selectors have not tried Shami out in place of Prasidh to just check him out? Or better still should Arshdeep who is now a proven hand and is a key player in the T-20 set up not been rested as well and Shami picked in his place? Give all of Prasidh, Harshit and Shami a go to check each one out?

Let me also say that the Siraj call is a very good one. Siraj had been rested with his red ball workload in mind and now that there is no red ball cricket till August and with Siraj not a part of the T-20 set up, it makes perfect sense to get him back for the 50 over format. Come the world cup in a year and a half Siraj can be a real handful in South African conditions.

The other player who will feel hard done is Ruturaj Gaekwad. Fresh off a hundred, he has had to miss out with Shreyas back in the scheme of things. While it is fair to say that Rutu was a back up for Iyer, it is also true that Jaiswal has kept his spot as back up opener with Gill now back as captain and opening batter. That’s where Rutu has reason to feel hard done.

In closing, I’d for one like to know what lies in store for Shami or have we seen his last in the Indian jersey? This wasn’t the kind of end we’d have liked to see for one of India’s best ever.