India pacer Mohammed Shami has given a mature reaction to the alleged favoritism in Indian cricket. Recently, Shami was asked a tough question regarding the preference of a few players over others in Indian cricket.
Shami is currently out of the Indian team due to an ankle injury that he suffered in last year’s ODI World Cup. His last international match was the 2023 World Cup final against Australia in November.
But he has currently started training after Achilles Tendon surgery in London. He is likely to make a comeback during India’s home series against Bangladesh in September.
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Mohammed Shami reacts to alleged favoritism in Indian cricket
While speaking on Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel, Mohammed Shami was asked about some players getting special favors in Indian cricket as compared to others. The host of the show Shubhankar Mishra even let out some names like Pawan Negi, and Manpreet Gony who went on to play for India as they were playing for CSK, which was led by MS Dhoni, India’s captain at that time.
Shami clearly negotiated such claims and said that he hadn’t noticed such things in his playing career ever. He believes a captain trusts a player whose skill he has already seen rather than somebody whom he hasn’t seen.
“I haven’t noticed such things ever. Maybe I didn’t feel such things because I go outside very rarely. You believe in the skills of those players whom you have seen for a long time. Like Rohit said he wasn’t able to see Sundar, Shivam Dube, or Abhishek before the World Cup. There is a reason behind it. These players were not with him,” Shami said.
Your performance should not allow anyone to raise questions on you – Mohammed Shami
Shami simply concluded by saying that if a player keeps performing, no questions will be raised about him. So, performance matters the most and it can silence every critic.
“I always believe that you must give such a performance that no one can ever raise questions on you. The other things should not matter,” the 33-year-old pacer added.
Indian cricket has faced several questions regarding the preferences of some selected players in the past as well. Recently, the appointment of Shubman Gill as the vice-captain and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s omission from the squads in Sri Lanka have been connected to favoritism.
Gaikwad performed exceedingly well in the limited opportunities he got in Zimbabwe. He is a genuine opener but he got the chance to bat at No. 3 because of the crowded opening slots. But not only he scored runs consistently, but also scored them at a good strike rate. However, he wasn’t named in either of India’s squads in T20Is or ODIs for the tour of Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, Shubman Gill top-scored in the series against Zimbabwe but was found to be struggling to keep up with India’s new aggressive brand of batting. While the other batters scored runs at a striker rate in excess of 150, Gill’s strike rate was just 126 in the series.
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