'They'll lack a...,' Australia head coach on Mohammed Shami missing from India's Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad
Blow to India before Aus tour! Shami's comeback hit by swollen knee - Report Photograph:( AFP )
Story highlights
The Aussie head coach, however, was wary of the fact that India won on their last tour of Australia without Shami.
The Aussie head coach, however, was wary of the fact that India won on their last tour of Australia without Shami.
Australia head coach Andrew McDonald thinks that India are going to miss pacer Mohammed Shami on their upcoming five-Test tour of Australia. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) didn't name Shami in India's Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad due to injury.
"Mohammed Shami is a big loss," said McDonald while talking on ABC's Offsiders.
“The way our batters speak about his relentless nature, his line and lengths, the way he goes about his business, a real good complimenting skill set to (Jasprit) Bumrah so think that one-two combo they'll lack a little bit, and they'll miss that,” he added.
The Aussie head coach, however, was wary of the fact that India won on their last tour of Australia without Shami.
“Needless to say we saw what happened last time, they had reserves that came in and did the job as well so they cannot be underestimated at all,” McDonald added.
India have named Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj as main pacers along with Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana. India also named medium-pace all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy in the squad apart from Navdeep Saini, Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed in reserves.
India's tour of Australia begins on 22 November in Perth before the day-night second Test in Adelaide from December 6-10. The third Test will be played at the Gabba in Brisbane from 14-18 December before the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from December 26-30. The last and final Test will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) from Jan 3-7.
India's squad for Australia tour: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
