Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has acknowledged that Mohammed Shami's absence is a big loss for India, but added his team won't take the pacers who replace him lightly during the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy series starting on November 22 in Perth, citing the Gabba Test win of the visitors' in 2021.
Shami has been out of action since last year's ODI World Cup in India due to an achilles injury which needed surgery this year.
But there's a possibility that Shami might join the Indian team for the second half of the Australia tour provided he proves his fitness and readiness in Bengal's last two Ranji Trophy matches at Bengaluru and Indore respectively.
India has won Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia the last two times it was played here in 2018/19 and 2020/21 respectively. "Mohammed Shami is a big loss.