India are all set to take on New Zealand in a three-match Test series beginning on October 16. The squad for the series has been announced, and people expected Mohammed Shami to return to action in the series after missing close to a year due to injury. Howerver, fans were surprised to not see his name when the squad was announced, despite reports of his potential comeback in th series.

Mohammed Shami underwent surgery on his ankle after the ODI World Cup 2023, and has not played since. He was recovering at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), and he suffered a knee injury there while recovering, according to reports. Shami was being readied for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy vs Australia in Australia in November, and was supposed to return in the New Zealand series to get some momentum ahead of the all-important tour Down Under. however, the knnee injury reportedly will keep him out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well.

Even though Shami said that the injury reports were baseless, his absence from the squad for the series against New Zealand proves to be a worrying sign for fans.

While Mohammed Shami missed out on a call-up to the India squad for the New Zealand series, his pace bowling partner Jasprit Bumrah has been appointed as vice-captain to Rohit Sharma. This means that the management is readying him to lead the side in the first two Tests against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, as Rohit Sharma will reportedly miss those due to personal reasons.

India’s squad for the three Tests against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep

Travelling Reserves: Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna

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