Ajit Agarkar Outlines Factors Behind Mohammed Shami's Exclusion From India's Squad For West Indies Series: 'He Hasn't Played A Lot Of Cricket'

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India vs West Indies: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector Ajit Agarkar broke his silence on speedster Mohammed Shami's snub from Team India's squad for the upcoming two-match home Test series against West Indies.

The first Test match of the series between India and the West Indies will be played from October 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The second and final match of the series will kick off from October 10 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

The BCCI announced India's squad for the West Indies series on Thursday, September 25. Shubman Gill will be leading the Indian squad. Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja has been rewarded with the vice-captaincy post.

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While speaking at a press conference, Ajit Agarkar opened up on Mohammed Shami's exclusion from the squad, saying that in the past two or three years, the star pacer has not played a lot of cricket. He added that Shami needs to play more cricket to get a chance in the squad.

"I have no update. He has played in the Duleep Trophy. But in the last two to three years, he hasn't played a lot of cricket. I think he played one game for Bengal and one in the Duleep Trophy. As a performer, we know what he can do, but he has to play cricket," Ajit Agarkar said at a press conference.

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Mohammed Shami made his Test debut for Team India in 2013 against the West Indies at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Since then, he played 64 Tests and 122 innings, picking up 229 wickets at an economy rate of 3.30 and a bowling average of 27.71. In the first-class, Shami played 90 matches and 170 innings, bagging 340 wickets at an economy rate of 3.28, and a bowling average of 27.31.

It's been more than two years since Mohammed Shami played his last Test match for Team India. The 35-year-old's last Test match was in June 2023, against Australia.

India squad: Shubman Gill (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, N Jagadeesan, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav.