India named a 16-member squad for the first two Test matches against England, to be played at Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. The squad includes four fast bowlers, in vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, and the uncapped Avesh Khan.

Apart from Umesh Yadav, a notable omission has been of Mohammed Shami, who returned into the Indian XI halfway through the 2023 World Cup and still finished as the leading wicket-taker, with 24 scalps at 10.70 apiece.

From 64 Test matches, Shami has 229 wickets at 27.71. While four other Indian fast bowlers have more Test wickets, none of them averages under 29. Shami’s 76 wickets on home soil have come at 22.10 apiece: no Indian with 15 wickets at home averages below 25.

Shami had picked up an ankle injury after the World Cup, and had been provisionally included in the squad for the two Test matches in South Africa in late December and early January. However, he was “not cleared by the BCCI Medical Team”. As replacement, the selectors added Avesh to the squad for the second Test match, at Newlands.

Earlier this month, Shami became the only cricketer to be honoured with the 2023 Arjuna Award, the second-highest sporting honour of India.

Shami had been recovering after his injury. “My rehabilitation is well on track and the medical experts at NCA are happy with my progress,” he had told in an interview on January 9. “Hopefully you can see me back in action against England.”

While the BCCI has not cited an official reason for his exclusion, one can assume that the ankle injury has kept Shami out of the first two Test matches. Since India are almost certain to go in with two fast bowlers, it was wiser to allow Shami to spend more time in rehabilitation than on the bench.

India squad for first two England Tests: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), KL Rahul (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan.