Indian cricket team men’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar has responded to pacer Mohammed Shami’s cheeky dig at the selectors following his omission from the upcoming white-ball tour of Australia.
Shami was a key part of India’s ICC Champions Trophy-winning team in March. But the pacer was not picked for the upcoming ODI and T20I series in Australia.
A couple of days ago, on the eve of Bengal’s first Ranji Trophy match of the season, Shami had stated that he is completely fit to play even four-day cricket, let alone 50-over cricket.
Shami said, “If I can play four-dayers [Ranji Trophy], I can also play 50-overs cricket. If you don’t select me, then I will come here and play for Bengal.”
That is a conversation for me to have with Mohammed Shami: Ajit Agarkar
On Friday, Agarkar was a guest at the NDTV World Summit 2025, where he was informed about Shami’s comments.
Agarkar said he didn’t know about Shami’s comments, and he would rather talk to the pacer directly. The chief selector, though, added that Shami was not fit for Test cricket and hence was excluded from the Test tour of England earlier this year.
Agarkar assured that Shami’s performance in the ongoing domestic season will be monitored and doors to the national team remain open for the senior speedster.
“If he says that to me, I will probably answer that. I am not quite sure what he said on social media. He has been an incredible performer for India. If he said something, maybe that is a conversation for me to have with him or him to have with me,” Agarkar told NDTV.
“But even before England, we said if he was fit, he would have been on that plane. Unfortunately, he wasn’t.”
The chief selector added:
“Our domestic season has just started so we will see if he is fit enough and we will see where it goes. This is the first round of Ranji games that is going on. We will find out in a couple of more games. If he is bowling well, why would you not want to have someone like a Shami.”
“But what we have found in the last six-eight months to a year, even during the Australia tour, we were desperate to have him on, but unfortunately his fitness wasn’t there.”
When will Mohammed Shami return to Indian team?
Mohammed Shami’s next chance to return to the Indian colors would be the home Test series against South Africa, beginning on November 14, which will be followed by white-ball matches against the Proteas.
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