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Abhishek Sharma said that Mohammed Shami not playing was a decision of the team management keeping conditions in mind.
India vs England, 1st T20I: Mohammed Shami trains at the Eden Gardens (AP)
Mohammed Shami’s much-anticipated comeback was further delayed after the Indian pacer wasn’t included in India’s playing eleven for the first T20I against England on Wednesday night as the team management didn’t find him fitting into the combination keeping the nature of Eden Gardens track in mind.
Abhishek Sharma smashed a blistering 34-ball-79 in an exhibition of breathtaking power-hitting on the back of a disciplined bowling effort as India outplayed England in Kolkata by seven wickets.
Shami was expected to make his international return after 14 months but once skipper Suryakumar Yadav announced at the toss about his exclusion from the playing eleven, it did fuel speculations whether national selectors were sanguine about his fitness.
Post match, star of the evening Abhishek clarified that the veteran pacer was not picked on account of conditions and the combinations that the hosts thought conducive.
“I feel it’s the decision of the team management and they thought it’s a better option keeping in mind of these conditions,” Abhishek said at the post-match press conference.
India vs England – 1st T20I: HIGHLIGHTS
India’s new-look T20I team is Gautam Gambhir’s handiwork, and it has worked exceptionally well till now with focus on condition specific roles rather than conforming to star culture.
Not picking a bowler of Shami’s caliber, looking at the track and going with three specialist spinners and one frontline pacer was ‘GamBall’ against ‘Bazball’ and there are no marks for guessing which philosophy came up trumps.
If one goes by Shami’s 11-year international career, T20Is haven’t been his strongest suit as he has played 23 of them with 24 wickets and an economy rate of nearly nine runs per over.
Hence Gambhir didn’t want to fit in a veteran returning post 14-month forced international hiatus into conditions where his length, he might have thought, could have been cannon fodder for Jos Buttler and company.
Ironically, the seemingly fit-again 34-year-old pacer bowled for close to half an hour at the side nets, targeting stumps, even as Suryakumar announced the playing XI.
While Abhishek, one of the junior most in the national set-up spoke about combination, the question however remains whether problem of a swelling left knee after each rigorous session is still causing problems for the veteran pacer.
(With inputs from Agencies)
