With the recent struggles of India’s bowlers in ODIs, there have been fans and experts who have called out the selection panel and team management to recall Mohammed Shami in the scheme of things.
Many believe that the veteran bowler who last played for the India national cricket team in the Champions Trophy final in 2025 could solve many headaches for the Shubman Gill-led side. However, amid the discussion, former wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik backed the team management and said there is “no point” in bringing Shami back into the scheme of things.
Dinesh Karthik Backs Team Management to Not Pick Mohammed Shami in ODIs
While appearing in a video for Cricbuzz, Karthik was asked about his opinion on bringing Mohammed Shami back to the ODI team. To this question, the former cricketer, who is currently active as a commentator asserted that the team has other bowlers to choose from.
“No, I feel there are other pacers. India moved beyond him. There is no point in going back. So I wouldn’t be looking at Shami, even though he has bowled very well,” Karthik said.
Indian Bowling Unit Under Scanner
Despite winning the three-match ODI series against the West Indies, it was nothing short of a poor performance from the bowling unit of the hosts. The Shubman Gill-led side won the first two matches despite conceding 700 runs while chasing. In the final match, having opted to bat first, the hosts posted a respectable score of 351 runs on the board, but failed to defend it thanks to an unbeaten century by Shai Hope.
Among the bowlers, only Kuldeep Yadav maintained an economy rate of less than six runs per over. With the Indian team looking for fast bowling options for the World Cup in South Africa, Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna, Auqib Nabi and Anshul Kamboj were given games during the series.
Brar, who played each of the three games, conceded 220 runs at an economy of 7.54. Krishna, who bowled 15 overs in the series before an injury ruled him out, went for 105 runs for his three wickets. Meanwhile, both Auqib Nabi and Anshul Kamboj remained wicketless in the only games they played in the series. Both Nabi and Kamboj went for more than nine runs per over.
Mohammed Siraj was not picked in the playing XI until the last game where he bowled only eight overs to pick a single wicket and went for 52 runs.