Injured Shami out of Australia tour, Bhuvneshwar named replacement

India fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who just came back from a long injury layoff, has been ruled out of the Australia tour with a hamstring injury, the BCCI medical team has confirmed. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was named replacement and is expected to join the Indian team on Sunday.

Shami sustained a Grade II injury to his left hamstring which will keep him out of action for four to six weeks, a BCCI release said. Shami sustained a knee injury to the same leg, and had not bowled at all on Friday, in the warm-up T20 game against Western Australia XI in Perth.

Shami's last international outing was during the World Cup, when he played through injury and pain, after which he underwent surgery and then rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. He was then named among the 30 probables for a preparatory camp ahead of the South Africa series in September, but could not regain full fitness for the international matches.

Once he was fit, Shami played four matches for Bengal - two in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in December and two in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January. In the one-day matches he returned with figures of 1 for 40 and 2 for 52, while the T20s saw him end with 2 for 30 and 3 for 18.

Before the departure for Australia, India captain MS Dhoni had said Shami was part of his plans for the World T20, which begins on March for India, against New Zealand in Nagpur. Before that, India are also scheduled to host Sri Lanka for three T20s and then travel to Bangladesh for the Asia Cup T20.

On the current tour, India will play five ODIs and three T20Is in Australia, from January 12 to 31.