Overview:
Shami's last Test was the World Test Championship Final against Australia in 2023, and his last competitive game for the Men in Blue was the summit clash against New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
India have announced the squad for the two-match Test series against South Africa, with Rishabh Pant making a return after fully recovering from his injury. However, there was no place for Mohammed Shami, who is in sensational form in the Ranji Trophy.
Pant was injured during the fourth Test against England in July and missed two red-ball matches against the West Indies at home. He recently led India A against South Africa A and has replaced N Jagadeesan in the 15-member squad led by Shubman Gill.
The Test series will start on November 14 in Kolkata, followed by the second game in Guwahati. Meanwhile, Shami has been ignored for the third consecutive assignment in the longest format of the game.
He was not a part of the matches against England and the West Indies, and now there is no place for him in the upcoming contests against the Proteas.
Shami’s last Test was the World Test Championship Final against Australia in 2023, and his last competitive game for the Men in Blue was the summit clash against New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. In three Ranji Trophy matches, he has taken 15 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj will lead the pace department along with Akash Deep.
India’s Test squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK) (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep