Shami last represented India in the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Former India opener Abhinav Mukund shared his two cents on Mohammad Shami's exclusion from the Indian Test squad announced for the upcoming series against New Zealand.
Shami, 36, last represented India in the 2025 Champions Trophy. Despite proving his fitness and form in domestic cricket, he has faced omission from the national setup across formats.
The veteran pacer was recently ignored for the upcoming all-format tour of New Zealand, featuring five T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests.
Mukund argued that age cannot be the reason for Shami's continued omission, pointing out that fellow 36-year-old Bhuvneshwar Kumar was simultaneously handed a comeback to the Indian T20I setup.
Instead, Mukund believes that the national selectors and the Center of Excellence (CoE) have other specific reasons for looking past Shami, who has not played a Test match for India since June 2023.
"India have a pool of fast bowlers they are working with. And there must be reasons for the non-selection of Mohammad Shami. I don't think age is the criteria. If age was the criteria, Bhuvneshwar Kumar wouldn't have made it back to the T20I setup. There is a reason that the CoE and the Indian team selectors have for not picking Shami in this side," Mukund told Cricinfo.
Jasprit Bumrah will spearhead India’s pace unit in the Test matches against New Zealand. The attack also includes Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj, and Prasidh Krishna.
"Akash Deep is a very good selection again. Coming back from injury, he is a very good red-ball bowler. Anshul Kamboj has had a few impressive moments. And that's why I think he makes it in the ODI squad as well. And he's bowling slightly quicker than what we saw of him in that one Test alone in England. This is possibly his first full series. I don't think he'll get an opportunity. But I think it's the right selection call moving forward," Mukund remarked.
Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi, Sarfaraz Khan, Manav Suthar, and Saransh Jain, who all featured in the Sri Lanka Test tour in August, have been dropped from the squad.
India's Test squad for New Zealand tour: Shubman Gill (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (vice-captain), Devdutt Padikkal, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj