Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav rested from Ranji Trophy match before Test series against Sri Lanka

Team India fast bowler Mohammed Shami will miss his next Ranji Trophy match for Bengal against Vidarbha as he didn’t feature in the 16-member squad announced by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) on Monday. The match will be played at Kalyani, on the outskirts of Kolkata, from November 9 to 12.

The CAB was interested to play Team India fast bowler Shami and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha against Vidarbha. However, Saha got the clearance from the BCCI, and the board apparently wanted to give the pacer some rest ahead of their first Test against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens starting November 16.

Meanwhile, Vidarbha will also miss the services of fast bowler Umesh Yadav as he was rested also from the match before the first Test against Sri Lanka.

Both Shami and Yadav were instrumental in India’s home Test series victories against New Zealand, England, Australia and Bangladesh. Their pace and seam troubled foreign batsmen a lot. At dull wickets of India, both pacers managed to get and seam and bounce which caught overseas batsmen by surprise.

When the Indian batsmen battered overseas bowlers, the Indian bowlers made the life of visiting batsmen hell. Now, during the home series against Sri Lanka, the fast bowling duo will play a key role for them. Fast bowlers got assistance from spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin who have also played a key role in India’s overwhelming home series victories.

Now, before the tour of South Africa, both Shami and Yadav would like to settle down with their fast bowling against Sri Lanka during the three Tests series. Under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, India defeated New Zealand 3-0, England 4-0, Australia 2-1 and Bangladesh 1-0 during the prolong home series.

Bengal squad:

Manoj Tiwary (captain), Sudip Chatterjee (vice-captain), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shreevats Goswami, Anustup Majumdar, Abhishek Raman, Koushik Ghosh, Aamir Gani, Pradipta Pramanik, Ashok Dinda, Sayan Ghosh, Ishan Porel, Kanishk Seth, B. Amit, Writtick Chatterjee.