Injury forces Shami out, Bhuvneshwar called up

Perth, Jan 9: Pace spearhead Mohammed Shami was on Saturday ruled out of India’s limited overs tour of Australia due to an injury he picked up on Friday.

“The BCCI medical team confirms that Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of India’s tour of Australia due to injury. He sustained a Grade II injury to his left hamstring, which will restrict him from playing active cricket for about 4-6 weeks,” said a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) statement.

Experienced seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will replace Shami and will join the team on Sunday.

“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has med Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the replacement, who will join the team tomorrow,” added the statement.

Shami, who returned to the tiol side after a gap of eight months following a knee injury, was med in the India squad for the tour which includes five One-Day Intertiols (ODI), starting January 12 in Perth, followed by three Twenty20 Intertiols.

Shami bowled 18 overs and bagged three wickets for Bengal from two matches in the domestic one-day tourment Vijay Hazare Trophy after returning from injury recently. The 25-year-old suffered another injury during India’s Twenty20 warm-up match against Western Australia XI here on Friday. Shami, did not bowl in India’s 74-run victory in the tour game, as he hurt his hamstring in training. IANS