As Mohammed Shami was battering Indian seamers in Rajkot last week in his first match back after a year away with injury, many wondered why India’s best seamer had not been flown out to Australia to play for pace man Jasprit Bumrah.
With India cruising to 10 wickets for the first time in three days in the second Test at Adelaide on Sunday, there will be more and more calls for Shami to be swooped into Brisbane for the third Test against the visitors.
The way they conceded that wicket not only poked holes in the camp’s high after India’s shock first Test win in Perth but also showed their dependence on Bumrah to score the 20 wickets required to complete a test victory.

India picked up just 10 wickets in Adelaide, Bumrah who has taken four wickets in the five-Test series with three batsmen from the Australian top-order.
Another spinner Mohammed Siraj took four middle and lower order wickets but by then Australia were ahead, and a suicidal Harshit Rana lost his wickets in 16 overs.
“You cannot bet on Bumrah bowling every day, every evening”, India captain Rohit Sharma said post Sunday’s defeat. Shami would have relieved Bumrah’s load but the management of the team are not sure that the seamer is fit to test after so many months on the sidelines with his ankle injury.
This 34-year-old sits one position below Bumrah in the pace ladder of India and is a man who runs with a straight seam but never backs down.
Rohit teased that the 64-Test veteran may yet feature in the rest of the five-Test series in Australia.
The third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test matches in Brisbane, on Dec. 14 and Melbourne and Sydney on Dec. 15 will be played.

“We want to be over 100 per cent sure of him because he is out long,” Rohit said about the bowler. “We don’t want to force him to come here and do his job for the team.
“We’ll get a call depending on how those guys (meds) feel… But the door is always open for him to play.
Shami scored 3-26 against Rajasthan in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last week and his fitness will be kept on an eye when his Bengal team take on Chandigarh in their next game later on Monday.