Umran Malik on standby as Shami's fitness in doubt for South Africa T20Is

After beating Aaron Finch's second-string Australia 2-1 in the home series, Rohit Sharma's Team India are set to play their last T20I series before the T20 World Cup 2022. Rohit and co will face South Africa in a 3-match T20I series at home series and the Temba Bavuma-led squad are already here in Thiruvananthapuram to get set for the bilateral series. The two sides are meeting each other second time in four months, last time South Africa came to India for a 5-match T20I series which ended in a 2-2 draw after the fifth match was washed out due to rain.

BCCI announced the squad for the South Africa series before the Australia series only and except for Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, all players will participate in the series against the Proteas.

However, there are still doubts whether veteran pacer Mohammed Shami will be fit for the 3-match series or not and Umran Malik has been kept on standby, as per a report in Insidesport. Shami was about to play his first T20I after the T20 World Cup 2021 but unfortunately, he tested positive for COVID-19.

"I am not exactly aware of the current situation regarding Shami and his fitness. The medical team will have the details about it," BCCI official told InsideSport.

Umran Malik on the Standby list for the T20i series against South Africa as the BCCI is unsure on Mohammad Shami's availability. (Reported by Inside Sport). — Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) September 26, 2022

Talking about India's bowling attack, Harshal Patel and Jasprit Bumrah have made a comeback with Deepak Chahar also getting fit. Arshdeep Singh has already played some good amount of matches before the World Cup and it will be interesting to see what happens if Shami also gets fully fit.

India squad for South Africa T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Shami, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah