Reports | Umran Malik to be on India's standby for South Africa T20Is amidst doubts over Mohammed Shami’s unavailability

After securing a series win by 2-1 in the T20I series against Australia, India are all set to host South Africa for a white-ball series. South Africa have arrived in the host country and India will play their final series before the start of the T20 World Cup next month. Mohammed Shami was named for the Australia series but he failed to take part in any fixture due to being COVID positive. 

Umesh Yadav was included in the series against Australia replacing Shami but he failed to impress. There isn’t any update about Shami’s recovery and so there are still doubts about his availability. According to a report by InsideSport, BCCI has asked Umran Malik to be on standby in case Shami missed the series. Malik was impressive in the recent series for India A against New Zealand A in the unofficial ODI series. 

"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.

Team management will be hoping for Shami to recover and take part in South Africa series. They will be interested to see what he can offer with his bowling as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel have failed to live up to the expectations, especially in death overs.