India vs Bangladesh: Two Indian bowlers unlucky to miss the T20I series

Recently India announced the squad to face Bangladesh in the T20I series. With T20 World Cup set to take place next year, the Indian team management is aiming to find a settled squad ahead of the mega event. The series against Bangladesh could have been an opportunity for some fringe players to make their mark in the format.

The immense workload has gotten the better of Bumrah as he had been ruled out of the Test series against South Africa because of a stress fracture. Thus, the team management has decided to give him sufficient rest so that he recovers to full fitness ahead of India’s important tours.

With Bumrah out of the action, it opened an opportunity for other fast bowlers. There is no dearth of talent in pace bowling department in India right now, so in spite of Bumrah's injury, some talented fast bowlers missed out on the call-up. Let us look at two fast bowlers who would consider themselves unlucky to have missed out on the squad for the series.

Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav has often been sidelined due to his lack of consistency at the highest level. His emergence offered great hope to Indian cricket as he was being viewed as the bowler who would rattle batting lineups with his pace and hostility. However, his inconsistent performances did no good to his chances of sealing a permanent spot in the Indian team.

In the past few years, Yadav has rediscovered himself as Kohli's go-to man in home conditions, especially in Test cricket. His recent show in the series against Proteas once again stamped his authority of being a potent weapon in these conditions. 

However, the challenge for the Vidharbha lad is his inability to come up with yorkers in the death overs in the limited overs formats. The fact that selectors didn't consider him even after a terrific performance in the test series signals that the doors for limited overs cricket might be closed for him.

Mohammed Shami

​One of the most improved fast bowlers of the Indian team, Mohammed Shami is no stranger to T20 internationals. The 29-year-old pacer has played 7 T20Is in his career, scalping 8 wickets at an expensive economy rate of 10.56.

However, one should note that the right-arm fast bowler has not played a single T20I for India since July 2017. And, during this phase, he has worked hard on his fitness and bowling skills. 

In the recently concluded Test series against South Africa, Shami was the 2nd highest wicket-taker with 13 wickets in the series.

He has learnt the art of bowling with the right line in the shortest format as well, and as a result, there has been huge improvement in his IPL performances. 

Playing for Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2019, Mohammed Shami scalped 19 wickets in 14 matches. His strike rate of 17.05 proves that he has improved as a T20 bowler.

Given that Shami has a good amount of experience of playing in Australia, the team can consider building him up as their back-up fast bowler. The first step in that direction could have been to name him in the squad for the series against Bangladesh.

​Cover image credits: Decann Chronicle