Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting feels Mohammed Shami’s absence will be a huge loss for India in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series against Australia. The ace pacer had picked 16 wickets in four Test matches on the tour of 2018-19 to Australia when India won for the first time on Australian soil.

However, Shami could not fully recover from his injury and hasn’t been picked for the Australia tour. Shami has bagged 44 wickets in 12 Test matches against Australia at an average of 32.09.

The gun-fast bowler is known for his upright seam position and he would have been lethal in the Australian conditions. 

“The big omission is Shami not being fit. I think that’s a huge loss for India. He’s been one of the leading fast bowlers in the world for the last three or four years, and mainly with the red ball. His one-day record’s been very good, but what he’s been able to do home and away with the red ball in Test cricket has been quite phenomenal,” Ponting said in a video shared by the ICC on Instagram.

“You talk to all the players that face him as well; they talk about how hard he is and how difficult he is. And then when you think about where the first two Tests are with Perth and Adelaide, he’d be perfectly suited to bowling in those conditions. So, I think that’s the only real chink in the armour,” he added.

Shami has 229 wickets to his name in 64 Tests played so far at an average of 27.71. 

Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah will be India’s pack leader on the Australia tour and he will have the company of Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, and Prasidh Krishna.

The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.