Mohammed Shami returns to Indian team after 14 months, picked for T20Is against England
Mumbai, Jan 11: Nearly 14 months after he last played an international match, veteran seamer Mohammed Shami on Saturday returned to the Indian team for the upcoming five-match T20I series against visiting England.
The 34-year-old Shami's last outing for India was the 2023 ODI World Cup final against Australia at Ahmedabad on November 19, after which he was out of the team for a long time due to an ankle injury for which he underwent surgery last year.
As he A swelling on his knee then prevented Shami from joing the Indian team for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, leaving Jasprit Bumrah to shoulder the bulk of the pace bowling load.
Suryakumar Yadav will lead the 15-member team in the series starting in Kolkata on January 22.
Team:
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk).
#TeamIndia's squad for the T20I series against England 🔽
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 11, 2025
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi,… https://t.co/eY8LUSspCZ
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Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu sends Mossad director to Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar
Nahariya (Israel), Jan 11: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved sending the director of the Mossad foreign intelligence agency to ceasefire negotiations in Qatar in a sign of progress in talks on the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu's office announced the decision Saturday. It was not immediately clear when David Barnea would travel to Qatar's capital, Doha, site of the latest round of indirect talks between Israel and the Hamas group. His presence means high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are now involved.
Just one brief ceasefire has been achieved in 15 months of war, and that occurred in the earliest weeks of fighting. The talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have repeatedly stalled since then.
Netanyahu has insisted on destroying Hamas' ability to fight in Gaza. Hamas has insisted on a full Israeli troop withdrawal from the largely devastated territory. On Thursday, Gaza's Health Ministry said over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war.
Also being sent to Qatar are the head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency and military and political advisers. Netanyahu's office said the decision followed a meeting with his defence minister, security chiefs and negotiators “on behalf of the outgoing and incoming US administrations.”
The office also released a photo showing Netanyahu with President-elect Donald Trump's incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who was in Qatar this week.
Families of the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza after being seized in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war are pressing Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home.
The recovery of two hostages' bodies in the past week renewed fears that time is running out. Hamas has said that after months of heavy fighting, it isn't sure who is alive or dead.
Israel and Hamas are under pressure from outgoing US President Joe Biden and Trump to reach a deal before the January 20 inauguration.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week a deal is “very close” and he hoped to complete it before handing over diplomacy to the incoming Trump administration. But US officials have expressed similar optimism on several occasions over the past year.
Issues in the talks have included which hostages would be released in the first part of a phased ceasefire deal, which Palestinian prisoners would be released and the extent of any Israeli troop withdrawal from population centres in Gaza.
Hamas and other groups killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages into Gaza in the attack that started the war. A truce in November 2023 freed more than 100 hostages, while others have been rescued or their remains have been recovered over the past year.
