Mohammed Shami ruled out of Asia Cup; Bhuvneshwar Kumar named as replacement

The rest appears to be an effort to provide the pacer sufficent time to recover for the all-important T20 WC that commences in the end of March and also avoid a repeat of last month. The pacer was picked up for the India tour of Australia in January, but his return was cut short after sustaining an injury during a practice session in Australia last month.

Initially after the injury in Australia, the doctors predicted that the 25-year-old will be out for four to six weeks, but he has failed to recover in time for the Asia Cup T20 tournament in Bangladesh.

The Bengal pacer last played for India in the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where he produced an impressive performance to take 17 wickets in seven matches. After returning from injury, Shami played two Vijay Hazare Trophy matches and two Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament games for Bengal to pick up three and five wickets respectively.

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Mohammad Shami had a stellar 2015 becoming the only Indian to enter the ICC ODI squad of the year 2015 on the back of a stellar World Cup performance where he bagged 17 wickets from seven matches. The quick reportedly played through pain and a knee injury in the WC tournament where India lost to eventual winners Australia.

Bhuveneshwar Kumar, who has played 13 T20I matches so far, will replace the pacer. The last time the 26-year-old played for India in the shortest format of the game, was back in October last year, against South Africa in Cuttack.