“What more can a player do?” - Mohammed Shami’s coach slams selection committee over pacer’s snub for NZ ODI series

Mohammed Shami's personal coach has slammed the selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, as the pacer continues to miss out on the Indian squad for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand, starting January 11 in Vadodara.

In the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 campaign, he has played five matches so far, and picked up 11 wickets for Bengal. However, he failed to make it to the squad for the forthcoming series, raising eyebrows.

Speaking after the squad announcement on India Today, Shami's coach questioned the selection committee for the veteran pacer’s omission from the limited-overs squads.

"What more can a player do? How many more wickets should the player take? This means that they do not want him in the ODI team. He has a lot to give," Shami's coach told India Today.

On the other hand, Bengal coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla also lashed out at the selection committee, terming the decision an "injustice."

"The selection committee has done injustice with Mohammed Shami. No international player has played domestic cricket with as much dedication as Shami in the recent past. Even after toiling hard in domestic cricket, what the selection committee has done with Shami is shameful," Shukla told Revsportz.

Opening batter Shubman Gill will return as the ODI captain with Shreyas Iyer returning from spleen injury as Gill’s deputy. However, Iyer’s return depends on the BCCI CoE’s fitness clearance ahead of the ODI series. Also, star pacer Mohammed Siraj returns with the all-rounder Hardik Pandya being rested.

India’s ODI squad for the New Zealand series:

Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer (vc)*, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. 

*subject to fitness clearance.

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