India have ruled out the possibility of a return on Australian soil for experienced seamer Mohammed Shami

Seamer Mohammed Shami will not be considered for India’s fourth and fifth Tests in Australia due to a knee injury.

The 34-year-old has fully recovered from his heel injury after undergoing surgery in February.

He was not, however, picked in the squad but there had been a chance he could have been added to support pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.

Shami has not played international cricket since the 50-overs World Cup last year but has returned to domestic cricket to prove his fitness.

“His left knee has exhibited minor swelling due to increased joint loading from his bowling workload. The swelling is on the expected lines, owing to the increased bowling after a prolonged period,” the Indian cricket board (BCCI) said in a statement.

“Based on the current medical assessment, the BCCI medical team has determined that his knee requires more time for controlled exposure to bowling loads. Consequently, he has not been deemed fit for consideration for the remaining two tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.”

India battled hard to earn a draw in the rain-hit third test in Brisbane, leaving the five-match series tied at 1-1 heading into the Boxing Day clash.

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal