Ajit Agarkar Defends Himself from Mohammed Shami Criticism Over Non-Selection for Australia Tour

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed he had several conversations with Mohammed Shami for several months regarding selection for recent tours.

Ajit Agarkar Defends Himself from Mohammed Shami Criticism Over Non-Selection for Australia Tour

Ajit Agarkar clarified that Mohammed Shami was not picked for the Australia tour due to fitness concerns. (via India Today)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Chief selector of the senior Indian men’s cricket team Ajit Agarkar cleared the air around Mohammed Shami’s criticism of the BCCI and the selection panel for his exclusion from the squad for the Australia tour. Agarkar clarified that Shami was left out of the team due to fitness concerns.

Mohammed Shami has found himself sidelined from the Indian team, after being left out of the Asia Cup squad, and most recently, the white-ball tour to Australia. His last international appearance was at the 2025 Champions Trophy. He finished as the 4th highest wicket-taker in the tournament with nine scalps in five matches at an average of 25.89, but struggled for consistency, often being hammered for runs. 

A poor IPL campaign, coupled with recurrent knee injuries, has led to his slow exclusion from the Indian team, across all the three formats. Shami was initially omitted for the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, following which he was also left out for the two Tests against West Indies this month. The veteran pacer’s exclusion has raised serious questions about the BCCI’s approach towards managing senior players. 

Most recently, the 35-year-old opened up about his constant non-selection, as it was expected that he would be on the flight to Australia for the ODI series, in Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya‘s absence. He expressed his disappointment publicly, calling out the BCCI and chief selector Ajit Agarkar for their lack of communication. Shami also maintained that he is fully fit and ready to play international cricket.

Responding to Shami’s critical remarks, Ajit Agarkar, speaking at the NDTV World Summit, clarified stated that the team values the veteran pacer’s experience highly. He however, mentioned that Shami was not picked for the Test series against England due to fitness issues, with the same doubts looming over his availability for the Australia tour.

Agarkar suggesting that the Men in Blue are ‘desperate’ to get Shami back into the side, should he manage to regain full fitness within the next two months. He said at the NDTV World Summit:

Even before England, we said if he was fit, he would have been on that plane. Unfortunately, he wasn’t… For the Australia tour, we were desperate to have him on, but his fitness wasn’t there.

Nonetheless, Mohammed Shami is currently playing for Bengal in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season, after a disappointing show for East Zone in the 2025 Duleep Trophy, where he picked up a wicket in 34 overs. In the Ranji opener against Uttarakhand, he scalped a three-wicket haul in the first innings.

SRH Could Release Big Names Ahead of 2026 IPL Season; Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan Among Those

Ahead of the upcoming 2026 IPL season, Sunrisers Hyderabad might release many of its star players, with the list including many big names. Veteran Indian pacer Mohammed Shami could be axed from the squad, after the 35-year-old failed to live up to expectations. 

SRH release Mohammed Shami
SRH might release Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan and Rahul Chahar ahead of the 2026 IPL season. (via Mint)

The 2023 IPL season turned out to be the most successful one for Mohammed Shami, as he finished with 28 wickets in 17 matches at an average of 18.64. Besides winning the Purple Cap, Shami also took the most wickets in the powerplay in a single season in the history of the IPL. After missing out the 2024 season due to an injury, Shami eventually made his return to cricket in January this year. 

He was picked up by SRH at the 2025 IPL auction, at a whopping price of INR 10 crores. However, Shami had an underwhelming campaign as well, picking up just six wickets in nine matches, before being ruled out due to another injury. Given his declining pace and form, SRH may be forced to release him ahead of the 2026 season to free up salary cap space for younger talented players.

Apart from Shami, several others could also find their way out of the franchise, including wicket-keeper Ishan Kishan, who did manage to score 354 runs, but struggled with consistency issues. Rahul Chahar, Abhinav Manohar and Jaydev Unadkat might also be released by the end of the year.

Also Read: