ODI World Cup 2023: Fans frustrated to see Mohammed Shami on bench

India decided not to tinker with the winning combination and go in with an unchanged playing XI for their ODI World Cup 2023 game against Bangladesh in Pune on Thursday.

The team management resisted the temptation to include Mohammed Shami in the playing XI. While veteran speedster Shami has been sensational for the hosts over the years, he has been leapfrogged by promising pacer Mohammed Siraj of late. Moreover, with the team management keen to focus on batting depth, bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur continues to play as the third seamer who would bat at No. 8.

However, fans are left frustrated to see Shami on the bench for so long in the ongoing mega event. Several of them were not convinced with India playing Thakur ahead of Shami as they feel the latter would have certainly given them another wicket-taking option. They took to social media platform X (earlier known as Twitter) to express their reactions.

“Today was such a good opportunity to give some game time to Shami. This whole batting depth is not thought-through. No point in trying Shami in just 1 game and then suddenly bringing him on for knock-outs,” wrote a fan.

“Ye log shami ko kya directly final mein khilayenge?” tweeted another fan.

“What wrong has @MdShami11 done to not deserve a place in a team where @imShard is being given chances repeatedly? I don’t know why the strongest batting lineup can’t trust their 7-batters to expect an all-rounder to win them the match,” a third user commented.