After India's lacklustre performance in the Asia Cup Super 4 matches, former India head coach Ravi Shastri has criticised Men in Blue's pace bowling selection for the tournament and commented that ace pacer Mohammad Shami's exclusion from the team 'baffles' him. India's pace bowling especially in death overs has been exposed in the tournament as they failed to defend over 20 runs in the last two overs against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

India played with three pacers in the tournament with two frontline pacers -- Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh/Avesh Khan while all-rounder Hardik Pandya filled in as third seamer. The tactic has backfired India as they are at the verge of being ousted in the continental cup which they have won most number of times (seven). The loss against Sri Lanka at Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday has thinned their hope of playing in the final.

Shami had a great outing in this year's IPL with champions Gujrat Titans as he bagged 20 wickets in 16 matches and remained the sixth highest wicket-taker. He last featured in ODIs against England in July this year. He was not picked in India's Asia Cup squad despite the injuries to Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel.

"When you need to win, you got to prepare better. I think the selection could have been better, especially for the fast bowlers. You know the conditions here. There's not much in it for the spinner. I was quite surprised that you came here with just four fast bowlers (including Hardik). You needed that extra one… someone like Mohammed Shami sitting at home and cooling his heels baffles me. After the IPL he had, for him not to be able to make the cut is... Obviously, I'm seeing something different," Shasri said in the post-match show on Star Sports.

Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram, who himself along with former India opener Gautam Gambhir have been vouching for Shami's inclusion in India's T20I squad since the beginning of Asia Cup, chipped in with a question for Shastri.

"Does a coach have input in selecting the team?" asked Akram.

"He does. He's not part of the selection. he can contribute by saying 'this is the combination we want' then it's up to the captain in the meeting to take that forward. When I say planning... There should have been one extra fast bowler. One spinner less in the 15-16. You don't wanna be caught situation where one guy has a fever and then you have no one else to play. You have to play another spinner which can be embarrassing in the end," Shastri replied.

India will next take on Afghanistan in their last Super 4 game at Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.