Selection of Bowlers:
Australian pitches tend to have more extra bounce than spin. Due to this, it was considered that fast bowlers will be included more than spinners. In this case, three spinners like Axar Patel, Ashwin and Sahal have been added to the team and Mohammad Shami has been given a place in the list of reserve players. Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh are the only four fast bowlers in the team.
BCCI Explanation:
Many people are expressing dissatisfaction saying that instead of adding three spinners, they should have removed one of them and given Shami a chance. In this case, the BCCI executive, who has given an interview to a newspaper, has talked about why Shami was not given a place in the team.
“October is very hot in Australia. Due to this, the balls are likely to rotate there. This is why Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid decided to take Ashwin. We also agreed to it. It was because of the inclusion of Ashwin that Shami had to be given a place in the list of reserve players,” he said.
Shami should do this:
“This is not the only reason why Shami was not included in the main squad. He was not included in the Indian T20 squad after the last T20 World Cup. How can they be included in the World Cup immediately when this is the case? He will have to prove his skills in the upcoming T20I series between Australia and South Africa. If this is proved, we will immediately remove the reserve players from the list and include them in the main team,” he said.
The Indian team is going to participate in the T20 series of three matches each against the Australia and South Africa teams. It is to be noted that the Australian T20 series will start on the 20th and the South African T20 series will start in India on the 28th.