Mohammed Shami is understood to have only one request that he be completely rested for the Tests and ODIs against the West Indies because he needs to be fresh for the gruelling season that lies ahead of them when he approached head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma following the WTC final match against Australia. And it’s clear that the selection committee gave Shami the break he wanted without even pausing to think about it.
The choice to rest Mohammed Shami for the Caribbean tour has gone unnoticed amid all the fuss surrounding the team selection. India, which often has an extremely busy calendar, will have a rare month off starting on June 11 after the World Test Championship final.
The West Indies will be their opponents in their next Test, which begins on July 12. The majority of the players have left on holiday, and some have even asked the Indian cricket board to postpone their trip to the Caribbean for a few days because they have a busy three months from September until the World Cup’s conclusion in November.
Teams typically want to bubble-wrap their key players at this point in the season with the World Cup just around the corner. Shami’s rest is therefore not surprising, especially in light of the volume of overs he has sent down this year in all formats, including the Indian Premier League.
It’s intriguing that Mohammed Shami offered to ask for a break. Shami is a strong proponent of the old school of fast bowling, which holds that the more you bowl, the better you grow, according to his coach Badruddin Siddique.
Shami missed the ensuing tours to New Zealand and Bangladesh and was rested for an ODI against New Zealand and third Test against Australia in Indore during the domestic season despite being added at the last minute for the T20 World Cup in November.
With only 100 days till the World Cup, India’s chances of winning a second championship at home depend on their pace attack, of which Mohammed Shami, along with Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, will be an important part. It is for this reason that India has granted Shami the respite he requested, despite there being a month between the WTC final and the opening Test in Domnica.
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