• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Bgt 2024 25 Why Were Mohammad Shami And Kuldeep Yadav Not Selected By India

BGT 2024-25: Why Were Mohammad Shami And Kuldeep Yadav Not Selected By India?

Mohammad Shami and Kuldeep Yadav [Source: PTI]Mohammad Shami and Kuldeep Yadav [Source: PTI]

India is in a precarious situation in the second Test against New Zealand. They are on the brink of a defeat in the game and series. At this juncture, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced an 18-member squad for the upcoming India tour of Australia (Border Gavaskar Trophy). 

India announced quite a few surprises in the squad. The fans were most surprised by Mohammad Shami and Kuldeep Yadav's absence. While the Indian pacer is recovering from an injury, Kuldeep Yadav was part of the Indian team in the first Test against New Zealand. Both these bowlers are quite important to the team's bowling line-up, and their exclusion was a really surprising move on the part of the BCCI. However, there are valid reasons behind these two players' absence from the all-important venture down under.

Here is a look at the squad of India for the 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

Why was Mohammad Shami not selected for the Border Gavaskar Trophy?

The Indian pacer Mohammad Shami has not played for India since the ODI World Cup 2023 final against Australia. There were rumours that he was gaining fitness and being available for the all-important tour. However, as it turns out, Shami has yet to regain full fitness following his ankle surgery and is not a part of the squad. 

Why was Kuldeep Yadav selected for the Border Gavaskar Trophy?

The Indian left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was a part of the XI team playing for the first Test against New Zealand at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. He did not impress much with the ball in the game. However, the fans were surprised when he was dropped just after one game in the next match. As it turns out, the spinner suffers from a 'chronic left groin issue'. As stated by BCCI, it has been referred to as the board's centre of excellence after the ongoing New Zealand series.