Hamstring injury rules Shami out of Australia tour

Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be flown in as replacement for the injured Shami.

Shami, 25, was on his comeback trail and had only just returned to the Indian setup after being forced into a lengthy layoff for a knee injury picked up during the World Cup 2015, one for which he underwent surgery.

The Bengal pacer, who finished as India’s second highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps at 17.29 in the quadrennial event, returned to national reckoning after promising performances in the 50-over domestic Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he returned figures of 1 for 40 and 2 for 52 from the two games. He followed that up with five more wickets from two T20 games.

Bhuvneshwar, who was left out of the One-Day International squad in favour of the returning Shami, is expected to join the squad on Sunday.

The first of the five-match ODI series will be played in Perth on January 12.