Mohammed Shami to miss ODIs and T20Is against England through injury
After missing the last two Tests against England due to a knee injury, Indian pacer Mohammed Shami is all set to miss the limited-overs legs against the Poms. According to reports, Shami will miss the three ODIs which begin on January 15 next year and will also likely miss the three T20I matches that follow the ODI series.
It was also revealed that Shami, who injured himself during the third Test against England and was forced to pull out of the remainder of the Test series, will be out of action for more than a month. The 26-year-old pacer from Bengal is now recovering from an injury to his right knee. Earlier, Shami had his left knee operated on after the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia and was out of action for almost one year.
In his absence, the likes of Ishant Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, and Barinder Sran come into the reckoning and the Indian selectors are likely to recall Ishant to join MS Dhoni’s team to take on Eoin Morgan’s men next year.
Extra Cover: Ajinkya Rahane doubtful for the ODIs and T20Is against England
India's star batsman Rohit Sharma has already been ruled out of the series due to a thigh injury and his opening partner, Ajinkya Rahane, is also nursing a finger injury and faces a race against time to get fit ahead of the series. In all likelihood, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan will be returning to the ODI team after missing the New Zealand series due to injuries.
It won’t be a surprise if India’s second Test triple centurion, Karun Nair, gets a call up to the limited overs side. All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who won the Man of the Match award on his ODI debut will join Rohit and Shami on the treatment table after being ruled out of the ODI series due to a shoulder injury.
The three ODIs against England are crucial for MS Dhoni’s men as they won’t be playing any other 50-over match until the start of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy in June. India go into the tournament as defending champions and the team management would like to use the ODIs against England to try various combinations ahead of the extravaganza.
It will be interesting to see whether the likes of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are picked for the ODIs ahead of the Test series against Australia and Bangladesh.