Highlights
- Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the World Cup
- The BCCI is yet to announce Bumrah's replacement
- India will take on Pakistan in their first match of the T20 World Cup
IND vs SA, 3rd T20I: The Indian team currently has loads of issues, especially around their bowling department. With Jasprit Bumrah being ruled out of the World Cup, the Indian team has faced a major setback and they are in search of answers. Mohd. Siraj was roped in as Jasprit Bumrah's replacement in the Indian squad for the recently concluded series between India and South Africa. The Royal Challengers Bangalore looked pretty timid and far from his best and India will now have to search for better options.
Jasprit Bumrah had been away from the game for at least 3 months. The speedster picked up his back injury when the Indian team was taking on England in a three-match ODI series in July. Jasprit Bumrah missed out on the third ODI against England due to a niggle. The Board of Control for Cricket in India at any cost wanted to get Jasprit Bumrah ready for the all-important World Cup. In the process, he missed out on the West Indies tour, the Zimbabwe tour, and the all-important Asia Cup. With Bumrah returning to the Indian side for the Australia series, it was a given that he will accompany the Indian team to Australia for the World Cup, but things went downhill pretty quickly.
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Earlier, this week, the BCCI announced that Jasprit Bumrah is unfit and can't fly to Australia for the World Cup. Coach Rahul Dravid and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly remained hopeful about Bumrah's availability for the T20 World Cup, but now the equation has changed.
Rahul Dravid on Bumrah's unavailability:
Bumrah's absence is a big loss, he's been a great player but it happens, it's an opportunity for someone else to stand up. We'll miss him, his personality around the group. Good to get the right results in both series (against SA and Australia). In this format, you need luck, and things to go your way, especially in close games. We didn't have that in the Asia Cup but had some luck during the Australia series. We were able to rotate the squad a bit, pleased with how it's gone overall.
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Team India will now fly out to Australia on October 6, 2022, and will get going with their preparations for the all-important World Cup.
(Inputs from PTI)