Last Updated on 4 years ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: Who will replace Jasprit Bumrah in the India T20 World Cup squad? | Rahul Dravid drops hint on Bumrah’s WC replacement
Skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid have together indicated that Mohammed Shami might replace Jasprit Bumrah in India’s final squad for the T20 World Cup. Bumrah’s back injury ruled him out of the upcoming tournament and that has put all the focus on his substitution in the final roster.
Shami and Deepak Chahar are named amongst the standby players for the World Cup. However, the former tested positive for Covid-19 prior to India’s recent series against Australia and South Africa. That hampered his chances of getting any game-time in the T20 format before the team flies off to Australia. Currently, Shami is getting his fitness assessed at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
Shami is on standby to replace Bumrah – Dravid
“In terms of who the replacement is, we’ll have a look, we’ll see, we’ve got time till October 15th. Shami obviously is someone who’s in the standbys, but unfortunately for us, he couldn’t play this series, which would have been ideal from that perspective,” Dravid was quoted in the post-match press conference after India’s loss in the third T20I vs South Africa on Tuesday.
He added, “He’s in the NCA at the moment – we’ll have to get reports as to how he’s recovering, and what’s his status after 14-15 days of Covid, and we’ll take a call, once I get reports on how he’s feeling, then we can take a call and the selectors can take a call on how we move forward on it.”
Speaking on the same issue, Rohit explained that prior experience in Australian conditions will play a part in finalising Bumrah’s replacement. “We’ve got to get someone in who’s got experience, who’s bowled in Australia, and see what he has to offer. I don’t know who that guy is yet. There are a few guys in the reckoning for that, but we’ll make that call once we reach Australia,” the captain remarked, indicating that Shami could be the preferred choice of the team management.
India will be lacking a genuine pacer having the capability to operate well right throughout the innings in Bumrah’s absence. Shami comes across as a fine replacement in that regard though he hasn’t turned up for India in a T20I ever since the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year. India’s death-bowling woes have been exposed recently with Bumrah being side-lined but whether or not Shami will be able to fill that gaping hole appropriately remains to be seen.
