Shubman Gill's Vague Response on Mohammed Shami's Omission From Ind-SA 1st Test: 'Selectors Would be...'

Ind vs SA: Shubman Gill, India's Test captain, was asked about the surprise omission of veteran Mohammed Shami from the side for the Test series versus South Africa on the eve of the game. 

“There aren’t many bowlers of Shami bhai’s quality. But we can’t ignore performances from players like Akash Deep and Prasidh. Bumrah and Siraj are also doing well, as we’ve seen. We also have an eye on where we’re playing our next Test series — the selectors would be better placed to answer that,” Gill said in the press conference before the Kolkata Test.

Shami's non-exclusion stunned a lot of experts and fans and hence Gill was asked to speak on it. As per NDTV when Gill was posed the question about Shami, the India Test captain passed the buck. Gill said that the selectors would be in a better position to answer it. 

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Shami in Red-Hot Form

After recovering from injury, Shami has been unstoppable in the red-ball format. This includes a five-wicket haul against Gujarat and a brilliant 3-for-4 burst that rattled Uttarakhand. He picked up 15 wickets in two games following his return. 

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Gill on SA 

The India captain also spoke about the world champions South Africa ahead of the Eden Gardens Test. Gill hailed the touring team 

“I think these two Test matches are very important for our chances of qualifying for the WTC final. South Africa are a very good team — they’re champions. When difficult moments came, we handled them well. The pitch is good, a typical Indian wicket,” Gill said.

We are less than 24 hours away from the start of the opening Test.