Ajit Agarkar announced India's squad for the five-Test match tour to England in the upcoming English summer on the afternoon of May 24.
One of the notable absentees in the squad was the experienced speedster, Mohammed Shami who has partnered Jasprit Bumrah in the India whites for a long time.
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Shami, after suffering a long-term injury, had also missed out on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy down under; however, he had managed to return to first-class cricket while India was still on the tour.
As India looks upon another big series in England to kick start a new cycle of the World Test Championship, see what Agarkar had to say on the exclusion of Shami.
MORE: Why Gill was picked as India Test captain over KL Rahul and Bumrah?
Why is Mohammad Shami not in India's team for the England tour?
Answering the questions at the press conference after the squad announcement, the chairman of selectors revealed that the bowler was not 100% fit and available for five Tests.
"He is not fit at the moment to be picked. He had an MRI and there are some new setbacks. It is unfortunate," Agarkar said.
Despite the exclusion, Shami could still be added to the squad later on in the series after spending time at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. As of now, they were not convinced about him bowling 18 overs a day.
What is India's squad for England Tour 2025?
Following is the squad selected by Ajit Agarkar and co. for the five-match series in England.
- Shubman Gill (c)
- Rishabh Pant (wk) (vc)
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- KL Rahul
- Abhimanyu Easwaran
- Sai Sudharsan
- Karun Nair
- Nitish Kumar Reddy
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Dhruv Jurel (wk)
- Washington Sundar
- Shardul Thakur
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Mohammed Siraj
- Prasidh Krishna
- Akash Deep
- Arshdeep Singh
- Kuldeep Yadav