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Australia became the first team to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-2023 after beating Indian by nine wickets in the third Test at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Friday (March 3). Now India have a task cut out in the fourth Test, which they need to win in order to join Australia in the WTC final which will be held at the Oval from June 7 to June 11.
The Indian team is dearly missing the services of its pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah who is marred by the injury woes and is on the sidelines of cricket. Bumrah has been out of action since September last year and is likely to remain out for at least six more months which will see him missing out the IPL 2023, WTC final and ODI World Cup if he fails to recover from his back injury in time.
Meanwhile, India's legendary cricketer Madan Lal told Sports Tak that Team India should forget Bumrah for the time being and take another star pacer Umesh Yadav to the WTC final if they manage to make it to the marquee clash. Bumrah hasn’t played for India since appearing in the third T20I against Australia on September 25, 2022. He was ruled out of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup last year.
Umesh impressed with the ball in the first innings of the third Test against Australia where he took three wickets to sum up visitors' innings for just 197 in Indore. Madan said its better to leave Bumrah out of the scene given his injury woes and concentrate more on Umesh and take him to WTC final as the team would need three pacers.
“They will take Umesh [to WTC final]. There you need at least 3 pacers so, only one spinner might play and the rest will be fast bowlers. Bumrah ko ab bhool jao. Usko chhor dijiye aap (Forget Bumrah. Leave him out of the equation). When Bumrah returns, we will see then. Use whatever you have. What is the guarantee? No wonder when he will return - maybe in 1 to 1.5 years. He has not played in so long. It means his injury is very serious,” Madan told Sports Tak.
The 71-year-old also said that Bumrah should be given enough time to recover for his own good and get to his ever best.
“At max, an injury takes 3 months to heal and he hasn’t played since September - even Hardik Pandya was able to return in 4 months post his back surgery - and Bumrah hasn’t played since 6 months. So, how can you expect that this will be the same Bumrah that we have seen so far? It will take him time. If you want to see the same Bumrah, you will have to give him time,” Madan concluded.
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