Mohammed Shami doubles down, refuses to buy Ajit Agarkar's comment about his fitness: 'Let him say whatever he wants'

[rollingstoned]

Mohammed Shami doubles down, refuses to buy Ajit Agarkar's comment about his fitness: 'Let him say whatever he wants'

Mohammed Shami continued to voice his displeasure regarding Ajit Agarkar's statements about his fitness.

 

Mohammed Shami’s non-inclusion in India’s squad for the ODI series against Australia was a surprising call made by the BCCI’s selection panel, after the experienced seam bowler had played an important role in India’s success in the ICC Champions Trophy. What has followed Shami's being overlooked in favour of younger bowlers is a verbal spat between the pacer and chief selector Ajit Agarkar.

 

Mohammed Shami was last in action for India during the ICC Champions Trophy.(AFP)

 

 

 

Shami, who is currently participating in the Ranji Trophy as he represents Bengal in their opening round fixture against Uttarakhand, was dismissive of Agarkar’s comments. A bemused Shami didn’t spare much time to respond to Agarkar’s comments regarding his fitness: speaking to reporters after play, Shami said, “Let him say whatever he wants. You’ve seen how I bowled. It’s all in front of your eyes.”

 

 

Shami took the last 3 wickets of the Uttarakhand first innings during the Ranji opener at the Eden Gardens. He would take all three of those wickets in the space of an over, cleaning up the tail and giving Bengal the first innings lead.

Shami let his bowling do the talking for him, indicating that Agarkar hadn’t been completely truthful in his assessment that fitness was the issue for overlooking Shami. Earlier, during an event in Delhi, Agarkar had commented on Shami’s non-inclusion by saying, “If Shami were here, I would give him an answer. If he is fit, why wouldn’t we have a bowler like Shami?”

“I have had multiple chats with him. Over the last six to eight months, what we have found out is that he wasn’t fit. If he stays fit over the next few months, the story might be different, but he wasn’t fit to be picked for the England tour,” Agarkar had explained.

Earlier, an infuriated Shami had voiced his displeasure with the rationale provided by the BCCI selectors, pointing out that fitness couldn’t be a reason for his non-inclusion as he had been playing in four-day events. He had also criticised them for placing the onus of announcing fitness on players, rather than communicating with the NCA’s Centre of Excellence, which is responsible for rehabilitating injured Indian players.

He also stated that it is not his job to update the national selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, on a constant basis about his fitness. It is worth mentioning that Shami, who made his international comeback earlier this year, has been battling knee injuries since the 2023 ODI World Cup.

"I have said this before. Selection is not in my hands. If there is a fitness issue, I shouldn't be here playing for Bengal. I think I do not need to speak on this and create a controversy. If I can play four-dayers (Ranji Trophy), I can also play 50-overs cricket," Shami was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

"About giving an update, it's not my responsibility to give an update or ask for an update. It's not my job to give updates on my fitness. My job is to attend the NCA (Centre of Excellence), prepare, and play matches. Woh unki baat hai unko kaun update deta hai, kisne nahin diya (That's their matter who gives them updates or not). It's not my responsibility," he added.

Shami, who was India's leading wicket-taker in the 2023 ODI World Cup with 24 scalps, suffered a heel injury and had to go under the knife to treat his Achilles tendon. He was ignored for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.

 

'Select the best for the country'

After being omitted from the ODI squad, there is a big question mark hanging over the future of Shami in international cricket. With the senior team going through a transition phase in various formats, Shami remains hopeful that he can stage a comeback at this point in his career.

"I always say that you should select the best for your country. It's a matter of the country. The country should win. We should all be happy. That's what I always say," he said.

"Keep fighting, keep playing games. If you perform well, it will benefit you as well. Selection is not in my hands. I can only prepare and play matches. I've no objection... If you don't select me, then I will come here and play for Bengal. I've no issue with it," he added.

India might have moved on from Mohammed Shami, now 35 years old and battling to find his best after a series of knee injuries. However, there is likely to be this bitterness and displeasure involved in his response if he believes he is not being told the truth regarding his non-inclusion in India’s series in Australia, beginning on Sunday.

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

Although we have our own reason for non selection he has a point.  Agarkar should have had a talk with him. He is top 3 world cup fast bowler of all time. Can't believe they didn't have a word with him.

[Manucrick]

22 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Although we have our own reason for non selection he has a point.  Agarkar should have had a talk with him. He is top 3 world cup fast bowler of all time. Can't believe they didn't have a word with him.

Same with Umesh and ishant

[Ultimate_Game]

Agarkar has continually taken the easy way out while making selections. He didn't drop Rohit and Kohli despite being white-washed at home by NZ at home. He has been taking the coward's way out with Iyer's selection (or non-selection) as well. Same thing with Jaiswal as it's easy to go with popular decision instead of making a harder call of backing a more deserving Jaiswal.

 

Agarkar has shown himself to lean whichever way the popular decision is so he doesn't get any push back. He's unlikely to make any tough decision. He always takes the easy and most popular way out. He has yet to make even one single hard call or back a player unless it's an obvious selection. Quite disappointed overall as you would expect a decent selector to phase out Kohli and Rohit by now, and also make sure Jaiswal and to a lesser extent Sai are part of the setup in shorter formats. Even Iyer in ODIS was a forced selection as Kohli was injured in the series before CT and Iyer performed so well he became undroppable. Overall, quite disappointed in Agarkar.

[putrevus]

Guy Shami who is second best fast bowler in Indian history deserves to be treated better by these two idiots , Agarkar and Gambhir.

 

Shami on one leg is better than that bozo who played in England.

 

If Shami says he is fit , he should be respected and not subjected to all this nonsense.

[Gollum]

Shami has been treated woefully by this management. At least give him some closure, communicate properly, with respect, about his role in future plans. He isn't some run of the mill player, he is the greatest ever WC bowler (above McGrath, Akram, Starc) who has always given his all for his team, without due recognition. 

[tapandrun]

Like all the TM and selectors of the past, they too donot have a road-map. They are not sure what kind of cricket they want to play and which are the player who can do it.

 They included GIll in T20is without any strong reasoning other than they just wanted GIll, it was not related to the role and ability but the related to the personal they wanted.

 

They use their power on smaller stars like Kishan, Iyer, ashwin and when it comes to Kolhi and rohit tm and selectors always takes steps back.

They asked them to play in domestic these ppl rejected and played just 1-2 token games. 

 

Not sure where shami is in their plans but if he is not he should be clearly communicated. Its okay if he is not in the he plans then also they should make it clear to him that they are looking for future ahead now. May be he can concentrate in t20s to further his own career in IPL and may be an outside chance in WC-27.

 

Things should be clear.

 

there should be a plan and selection should be according to it. Plan should be same for all the players.

 

Batter like Jaiswal is nt getting into the team because they can nt take decision on 2 superstar and 1 of their superstar in making.

 

And again as mentioned this previoulsy as well this and previous TM and selectors have made false promises to alot of players and now those players are feel being cheated. Be it jaiswal , sarfaraz, rutu and many others.

 

They gave chances to certain players only when the pressure from outside went-up : players like sarfaraz, patidar, tirpathi, karun, and even sky had to wait for 2-3 years even when Ind didnt had a #4 batter.

Yes one can argue their ability/inability and intnl quality but they were not set-up for success but to be rejected and dropped after few games so that sm voices stops.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2025 by tapandrun

[The Realist]

Isn't Shami in his 40s now anyway?

 

May as well recall the younger Ishant Sharma if trying to cling onto the past.

[Ultimate_Game]

8 hours ago, Gollum said:

Shami has been treated woefully by this management. At least give him some closure, communicate properly, with respect, about his role in future plans. He isn't some run of the mill player, he is the greatest ever WC bowler (above McGrath, Akram, Starc) who has always given his all for his team, without due recognition. 

 

There always have been different set of rules for batters and bowlers. Rohit and Kohli could pick and choose their series, they could go on a vacation and walk into the team without any domestic or practice matches. But somehow even someone like Bumrah isn't afforded that luxury. He was fast tracked to play in Asia Cup and is even playing Tests against woeful WI while Kohli walked out of a home Test series against Eng!

 

Shami is treated in a shabby manner though he has contributed much more to India's success in Tests over the last decade than any of our star batters barring Pant. This hypocrisy and different sets of rules for star batters is what has held us back over the years.

[putrevus]

How is Shami worse than this guy Rana. The more I see Rana bowl, the more awful he looks, he has made no improvement at all.

 

Shami in odis should be persisted, he has incredible record in world cups. It is not like India has abundant talented fast bowlers .

 

I don't see even one decent upcoming fast bowler.

 

These two morons Agarkar and Gambhir are so useless.

[nevada]

This step motherly treatment of Shami is painful to put up with! Because he is a bowler, he is a second class citizen in the eyes of the selectors. How many domestic games have Ro-Ko played to be able to just walk in to the team? Why can't Shami, who has been playing domestics, be given a chance to prove himself in international games? He is not some run of the mill player to be overlooked and passed over, guy is a legend and deserves some respect. 

[Ultimate_Game]

1 minute ago, nevada said:

This step motherly treatment of Shami is painful to put up with! Because he is a bowler, he is a second class citizen in the eyes of the selectors. How many domestic games have Ro-Ko played to be able to just walk in to the team? Why can't Shami, who has been playing domestics, be given a chance to prove himself in international games? He is not some run of the mill player to be overlooked and passed over, guy is a legend and deserves some respect. 

 

Not just Shami, selectors treat all the bowlers same way. Look at the way they rushed Bumrah back for Asia Cup or forced him to play WI Tests or made comments about Bumrah picking and choosing games in Eng series when Bumrah had to be handles carefully and there was no way he could've played all 5 Tests. They did this to their greatest pacer of all time.

 

Or look at the way Ashwin was treated after the NZ series. It was Rohit and Kohli who shat the bed and the reason for losing against NZ at home (and in Aus) but it was arguably our greatest home Test winner Ashwin who paid the price and was forced to retire with no repercussions for RoKo. Plus we've all seen how the useless has beens Rohit and Kohli could pick and choose their series and could walk into the team without playing any practice or domestic matches and without proving their fitness.

[rollingstoned]

10 hours ago, nevada said:

This step motherly treatment of Shami is painful to put up with! Because he is a bowler, he is a second class citizen in the eyes of the selectors. How many domestic games have Ro-Ko played to be able to just walk in to the team? Why can't Shami, who has been playing domestics, be given a chance to prove himself in international games? He is not some run of the mill player to be overlooked and passed over, guy is a legend and deserves some respect. 

Don't worry when a big tournament looms and they have a self inflicted crisis on their hands they will still send him an SOS to show him how much they value him. 

[jf1gp_1]

Maybe he doesn't get along with Gill. First exit for GT now Indian team.

[AKane]

15 hours ago, putrevus said:

How is Shami worse than this guy Rana.

Shami is not worse than Rana - but Shami is not second best pace bowler in Indian history either.

 

No way is Shami better than Kapil Dev. Give Kapil Dev neutral umps and DRS and he averages below 25 easily. Plus bowled tirelessly from one end....

[putrevus]

4 hours ago, AKane said:

Shami is not worse than Rana - but Shami is not second best pace bowler in Indian history either.

 

No way is Shami better than Kapil Dev. Give Kapil Dev neutral umps and DRS and he averages below 25 easily. Plus bowled tirelessly from one end....

No Shami is better bowler than Kapil. Reverse swing is the difference between them plus Shami is yard quicker.
 

Kapil had a great outswinger but once he lost a yard on his pace after his knee surgery in 1984 he lost that zip on his outswinger plus he never had reverse swing in his armory.

 

Shami is the better Odi bowler plus in world cups he has taken it to another level . He might be the best bowler in World Cup history . Bumrah pales in comparison with Shami in World Cups.

 

Overall cricketer Kapil was way better, it is not even a debate.
 

 

[vvvslaxman]

I also don't understand the logic of not picking Varun C.  I was curious to see how he would do in Australia as he is a tall guy and gets bounce

[Gollum]

Agarkar is a weasel, period. 

 

When he was expert, itni badi badi baatein karta tha. 

[express bowling]

I am a big Shami supporter. 

 

But we are trying to build a team for the 2027 WC in SA  Shami will be officially 37 then and actually 40 in all probability. 

 

And he has hardly played in the last 2 years. Never been fully fit. 

 

A fit-to-bowl Shami is better than all the 4 pacers selected. But no way can the selectors be sure that there is even a 50% chance of getting that Shami after 2 years in the WC.

 

The selectors are trying to groom the next-in-line ODI pacers with an eye towards 2027 WC in SA where 3 pacers are needed. Can't blame them for this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lord]

if Kohli and Rohit can play, Shami should too.