The Indian team management would be on the horns of a dilemma as far as Mohammed Shami is concerned. In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, he is India’s most experienced and effective fast bowler in the Champions Trophy. But he has a history of injuries and even during the last game against Pakistan, he went off the field but luckily returned to bowl a couple of overs to show he was fine. As India face New Zealand in their last league game today, they will have to take a rather difficult decision on whether to play Shami, given that within 36 hours, they will be back in action in the semi-final at the same venue on Tuesday. The factor to be considered is whether Shami, 34, will have enough time to rest and recover for the all-important knockout fixture. On the flipside, Shami played his last game against Pakistan last Sunday, and he may be a bit rusty after a long layoff. So, how will the team management deal with him? They may well be tempted to give Arshdeep Singh his first outing in the tournament and keep Shami fresh for the semi-final.   

At a pre-match media interaction at the Dubai Stadium, KL Rahul felt it would be a tough call for the team management. The wicketkeeper-batsman said, “Look, luckily, I am not in the leadership group to have to make that decision. But I am sure there will be some temptation and we have been in these positions before, where if there is an opportunity to try out players who haven’t gotten games, then they do get a game. It happens in a bilateral series, but I don’t know if that will happen in the Champions Trophy. And I don’t know if that will happen in tomorrow’s game. We only have one day’s break before the semi-finals and we have gotten a six-day break now. So, we probably want all of the players to play the game and get a little bit of time in the middle. This is my version. It might be a very different [decision] tomorrow.”