Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer has advocated for the inclusion of Mohammed Shami in both the Indian ODI and Test teams, especially after the comeback of Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the national set-up after almost four years. The right-arm pacer from Meerut was picked for the T20Is against New Zealand in November. previous game for India came in 2022, against New Zealand in an away series.
Shami, who last played for India during their triumphant ICC Champions Trophy in 2025, has been time and again ignored by the national selectors, despite performing consistently for Bengal at the domestic level. When confronted former BCCI chairman of selectors on the issue, the ex-cricketer maintained that the pacer had fitness issues.
With Agarkar’s tenure chief selector coming to an end and Bhuvneshwar’s return, Jaffer believes, Shami also deserves the opportunity, especially in the ODI format, considering the youngsters have failed to deliver in recent times. With the no.1 pacer, Jaffer felt the team is yet to finalise on the second and third seamers.
“I don’t know about the ODI team because we have tried many players like Gurnoor Brar, Prasidh Krishna, and Nitish Kumar Reddy there, but I don’t think the management still has that confidence,” Jaffer said in a video on his YouTube Channel. “You are not giving Siraj game time consistently.
“I don’t understand who your second and third seamers are. Hardik is not ready too. According to me, Shami should be in the ODI team, given that the World Cup is also very near,” added the former India opener.
Without Bumrah, the Indian pace attack looked flat, the recent example being against West Indies, where the visitors scored 295/7, 405/7 and 352/5 in the three ODIs. With the fast approaching, India need to finalise their combination, combined with youth and experience.
According to Jaffer, India should trust its experienced bowlers, rather than completely going for a younger pool of pacers. “When you have that quality, you should play him. My first choice would be Bumrah, Shami, and Siraj, and I will think about rebuilding after,” concluded Jaffer.
It was Shami, who completely changed the momentum for India at the 2023 World Cup. After sitting out of the first four games, Shami came into the playing XI after Hardik Pandya was ruled out after an enkle injury against Bangladesh. In his first game of the tournament, Shami rocked New Zealand in Dharamsala with figures of 5/54.
That’s not all. He went on to claim another five-wicket haul (5/18) against Sri Lanka in the league stage, before humbling the Kiwis again in the semifinal, with figures of 7/57 at the Wankhede Stadium. In fact, it remained the best bowling figures by an Indian bowler in ODI World Cups.
