India outplayed Australia by 6 wickets in the third and final T20 International match played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. With this win, India sealed the series by 2-1. Brilliant knocks from Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav helped India beat Australia. The Indian team is set to face the Temba Bavuma-led South African side team in a three-match T20I series starting from September 28.
The Indian selectors have already revealed the team for the South Africa series and all the players who participated in the Australia series last week will feature against South Africa as well, except Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya.
The cause of concern is the unavailability of Shami as the Bengal speedster was set to play against Australia last week, but he tested Covid positive. Umesh Yadav was asked to replace Shami in the squad but he did not have a great first match against Australia and as a result, was asked to sit on the bench in the last two T20Is.
According to InsideSport, the BCCI has included the Jammu speedster, Umran Malik on standby, since Shami’s availability is still not clear. Umran is currently representing India A against New Zealand in a three-match ODI series in Chennai. He made his T20 debut for India against Ireland in June after he performed well in the Indian Premier League 2022.
Since Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel have failed to live up to expectations in the slog overs, it will be interesting to see what Shami has in store to deliver. It has been almost a year since he played his last T20 for India.
"I am not exactly aware of the current situation regarding Shami and his fitness. The medical team will have the details about it," a BCCI official told InsideSport.