Australia great Ricky Ponting has expressed his views on Mohammed Shami’s absence from India’s Asia Cup T20 squad. With the big game between the rivals India and Pakistan is all set to take place on Sunday, August 28 at Dubai International Stadium. And Jasprit Bumrah, not there in the squad due to injury, fans are arguing taking Shami would have made sense.
However, the selectors opted to pick Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan, two new comers, along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The fourth pacer they have selected was Deepak Chahar, which they have put on standby.
On this, the former Australian captain Ricky Ponting stated that India have got superior T20 bowlers than Mohammed Shami at the moment.
While the selectors have selected 4 frontline spinners, including the veteran Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi, for the fifteenth edition of Asia Cup.
The speedster last played for India in T20Is at the T20 World Cup. While he was part of team India’s squad in the ODI series against England in July 2022.
Ricky Ponting on Mohammed Shami
“He’s been a very, very good bowler for India for a long time now. If you look at his strengths, his Test cricket is probably where he thrives the most,” Ponting told the ICC.
“I think there are better fast bowlers in Indian T20 cricket than Shami and they’ve only named three (for the Asia Cup). So if there’s potentially four named in the squad he might be the fourth man in.
“I would think they’ll probably only have the four quick’s coming to Australia. They’ll still want to bring a lot of spin here even though the wickets are probably not that conducive.”
Before the Asia Cup campaign team, some of team India’s players will play the 3-match series against Zimbabwe, starting August 18. For that, BCCI have choosed Mohammad Siraj, Deepak Chahar and Prasidh Krishna as their 3 frontline pacers for the ODI series.
KL Rahul, who is back in squad after the sports hernia surgery has been appointed as the captain for the Zimbabwe tour.
