Why Did Gautam Gambhir And Co. Not Pick Mohammed Shami In 1st T20I? India Star Says "Better Option..."

Mohammed Shami's much-anticipated comeback was further delayed after the Indian pacer wasn't included in India's playing eleven for the first T20I against England as the team management didn't find him fitting into the combination keeping nature of Eden Gardens track in mind. Everyone was anticipating Shami's international comeback after 14 months but once skipper Suryakumar Yadav announced at the toss about his exclusion from the playing eleven, it did fuel speculations whether national selectors were sanguine about his fitness. Post match, star of the evening Abhishek Sharma clarified that the veteran pacer was dropped on account of conditions and the combinations that team management found to be conducive.

"I feel it's the decision of the team management and they thought it's a better option keeping in mind of these conditions," Abhishek said at the post-match press conference.

India's new-look T20 team is completely Gautam Gambhir's handiwork and it has worked exceptionally till now with focus on condition specific role than conforming to star culture.

Not picking a bowler of Shami's calibre, looking at the track and going with three specialist spinners and one frontline pacer was 'GamBall' against 'Bazball' and there are no marks for guessing which philosophy came up trumps.

Actually if one goes by his 11-year international career, T20Is haven't been his strongest suit as he played 23 of them with 24 wickets and an economy rate of nearly nine runs per over.

Hence Gambhir didn't want to fit in a veteran returning post 14-month forced international hiatus into conditions where his length, he might have thought, could have been cannon fodder for Jos Buttler and company. Ironically, the seemingly fit-again 34-year-old