India vs England | Mohammed Shami doubtful for fourth Test

12/07/2016

Indian pacer Mohammed Shami is a doubtful starter for the 4th Test between India and England in Mumbai which is scheduled to start on Thursday. Virat Kohli has revealed that the 26-year-old is struggling with a sore knee and the management will take a late call regarding his inclusion in the side.

“We are going to take a call in the evening in terms of how he (Mohammed Shami) is feeling with his knee. After the Mohali Test he felt soreness in his knee, so we need to take a corrective call all on that,” said Kohli at the Wankhede Stadium here today.

“Because he has a history of knee surgery, we don’t want to push a player to an extent where we lose him for the whole season. So we will take a call, as I said, in the evening, to how much rest he needs, or he can go for tomorrow as well.

There is still a bit of time for that to be decided,” said Kohli.

With 10 wickets in 3 matches, Shami is the highest wicket-taker among the pacers in the series so far, and his loss could prove to be a big blow with India looking to extend their lead to 3-0. However, the good news for the team is that opener KL Rahul is back to his full fitness and will open the innings with Murali Vijay in the fourth Test.

“Rahul is fine. He and Murali Vijay being specialist openers in the squad will open the innings,” Kohli added.

This will also mean that makeshift opener Parthiv Patel, who performed well at Mohali, will drop down to the middle-order.