The Indian cricket team has received another major blow. After the 3-0 loss to New Zealand at home, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team’s next assignment is an away tour to Australia. The squad for the series has already been announced. Mohammed Shami has not found a place in the team as he is yet to return from injury. It was hoped that Shami would play Ranji Trophy matches to be ready for selection for the Tour of Australia at a later stage.

However, this will not happen anytime soon. According to a report by news agency PTI, Mohammed Shami’s return to competitive cricket has been further ruled out after the veteran pacer was not named in Bengal’s squad for the next two rounds of the Ranji Trophy against Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Bengal will take on Karnataka at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru from Wednesday before traveling to Indore to face Madhya Pradesh from November 13.

Shami was expected to play the match against Karnataka to test his fitness in a real match situation, while he played in the nets after India’s recent Test match against New Zealand, albeit with a bandage on his operated leg .

On that occasion, he was also monitored by India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel.

Shami later said during a promotional event that he felt “100 per cent” at the nets.

“I bowled with half a run as I can’t put too much stress on my body. So, I decided that I will play fair and I gave my 100%.

“I felt great and the results are good. Hopefully I’ll be back on track soon,” he said.

India skipper Rohit Sharma also opined against taking an undercooked Shami to Australia.

“We don’t want to bring undercooked Shami to Australia. Fingers crossed,” Rohit had said in Bengaluru recently.

Apart from Shami, Bengal will also miss the services of prolific opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, wicketkeeper-batsman Abhishek Porel and pacer Mukesh Kumar, who are with the India A team in Australia.

Pacer Akash Deep, who was part of India’s squad for the recent series against New Zealand, was also not named in the national squad.

However, veteran batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who has announced his retirement from cricket after the ongoing domestic season, has been named for the two matches.

Team Bengal vs Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh: Anustup Majumdar (captain), Wriddhiman Saha (week), Sudip Chatterjee, Sudip Gharami, Shahbaz Ahmed, Writtick Chatterjee, Avilin Ghosh, Shuvam Dey, Shakir Habib Gandhi, Pradipta Pramanik, Aamir Gani, Ishan Porel, Suraj Sindhumed Jaiswal,, Rohit Kumar , Rishav Vivek.

With PTI inputs

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)