The world is set to witness another fierce battle of cricket between India and Pakistan as the arch-rivals take on each other in the Asia Cup. Despite the chances of rain, India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first. Meanwhile, Rohit also announced his playing XI, which didn’t feature key players like Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami.
In a crucial game against Pakistan, India went with two full-time pacers, i.e., Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj, while Shardul Thakur and Hardik Pandya are playing as pace bowling allrounders. Due to this combination, India must have enhanced their batting line-up but missed out on key pacers like Shami. This decision has left fans split on social media, as they are not satisfied with it.
Former India cricketer and ace commentator Sanjay Manjrekar also backed Shami and said that India should go with their best bowling line-up. He said, “Mohammad Shami would’ve been more threatening to Pakistan than Shardul Thakur. You talk about batting depth, but bowling depth matters too. It’s worth noting that Shami last played for India in the World Test Championship finals against Australia in June.
India batted well in a brief session before rain interrupted the game
Talking about the game, India skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill came to open the inning. Rohit, after looking rusty in the first few balls, went on to play both Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi. Rohit, in his brief inning, scored an unbeaten 11 runs, including two fours. However, he was dropped at Short Fine Leg with a score of 0.
Meanwhile, another opener, Shubman Gill, is yet to get off the mark. It’s worth noting that India has selected Ishan Kishan as a wicketkeeper-batter, but his batting position is not specified. In the team sheet, he has been named at number three, while star batter Virat Kohli has been pulled down to number 4. However, it will be interesting to see who comes to bat where.
Here is how fans reacted to Mohammed Shami’s omission from the first game:
Sad man shami kai jagh thakur dravid maal fukta hai kya
— ASHISH (@Ashish87652264) September 2, 2023
Shami why no???
— ???? ???? ???????? ? (@AsimRiazworld) September 2, 2023
Shami >> thakur
— Doctor Adani™ (@AdaniHu) September 2, 2023
Md Shami ??
— Sports Fan (@crazyforsports7) September 2, 2023
Shami > Siraj , to Shami ko to Lena hi chahiye tha team mei
— Abhishek (@be_mewadi) September 2, 2023
Shami is not fit
— The Cricket Statistician (@CricketSatire) September 2, 2023
SKY is a samajwadi
And Shami belongs to MinorityBoth have been ruled out and people say there is no politics in ICT
— Jitesh (@Chaotic_mind99) September 2, 2023
Wo to phle s pta tha what's new
— @vipin mishra ?? (@viplnt) September 2, 2023
Disappointed, Shami must be there
— Rutvik Makwana (@rutvikwrites) September 2, 2023
I can't believe both are not in Playing 11 ?
— Renu K ? (@Talk2Rinki) September 2, 2023
Surya ka to expected hi tha ki nhi khelegaa,
But feeling sad for Shami.All the best team India ??
— Amar Deep?? (@amar__10) September 2, 2023
Why team India always discriminate between Muslim player
— RheA (@rheahhh_) September 2, 2023
Dropping shami was not a good idea
— Miss.H?? (@Husna_9221) September 2, 2023
It's all politics.. BJP don't want them to play
— Dr Jain (@DrJain21) September 2, 2023
