Kolkata
"Shami will play first two matches and that's why we have picked a 16-member team and included Alok Pratap Singh as the 16th member," according to a Cricket Association of Bengal official.
The India pacer, who has been named in the ODI and T20Is squads for the upcoming Australia Tour, returned to action in the Vijay Hazare Trophy after a prolonged gap of about nine months following his knee surgery.
Shami bowled only 18 overs and bagged three wickets from two matches in the domestic one-dayers.
Manoj Tiwary will lead Bengal who will open their campaign against Hyderabad in Nagpur January 2 in group A of the tournament which will be held in a round robin cum knock-out format.
Bengal are clubbed with defending champions Gujarat, Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Vidarbha and they will leave for Nagpur on the New Year's eve.
The squad: Manoj Tiwary (capt), Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Sudip Chatterjee, Debabrata Das, Pankaj Shaw, Pramod Chandila, Aamir Gani, Pragyan Ojha, Sayan Sekhar Mondal, Mohammad Shami, Ashok Dinda, Mukesh Kumar, Anurag Tiwari and Alok Pratap Singh.
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