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The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has spoken up about the player who will replace the injured Jasprit Bumrah in the squad for the T20 World Cup, after the star pacer was ruled out of the T20 World Cup 2022, starting October 16 in Australia, due to a back injury.
Rohit said that the team management would take a call on Bumrah's replacement in India's 15-member main squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 after reaching Australia. He further said that the team would try to get better as a team while pinpointing that the side needs to work on their bowling department after the hosts suffered a 49-run defeat in their third T20I vs South Africa in Indore on Tuesday.
In the dead rubber loss, Rilee Rossouw scored 100 not out of 48 balls as the Proteas piled up 227/3 before India folded up for 178 in response. This was after India won the three-match series 2-1.
Senior pacer Mohammed Shami and pace-bowling all-rounder Deepak Chahar are the two bowlers in contention for Bumrah's spot, and while Shami missed the T20I series against Australia and South Africa after testing Covid-19 positive, Chahar is part of the backup squad.
"As a team we said at the beginning, no matter what happens with the result - there's always room for improvement. We want to keep getting better as a team. Teams have been quite challenging, they can challenge all departments. Something we have been talking about at length. We need to look at a lot of things. Surya's form is a concern (in a sarcastic tone).
"We need to work on our bowling. We played against two quality sides, we came across tough challenges," Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Rohit also added that many of the players in his team have not been to Australia before and that’s why they wanted to go earlier to adjust to the pace in Perth. The captain also said that India will play practice games in Australia which will help them.
"We need to see what better we can do. We are working towards that, guys need a lot of clarity, it's my job to make sure it happens. It's a work in progress, we need to keep working and keep finding answers to it. A lot of the guys haven't been to Australia, that's why we are going there early. We want to play on the bouncy pitches of Perth, we want to see what we can do there.
India will take on New Zealand and Australia in the warm-up matches before their big-ticket opening match against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23. India will play both their warm-up games at the Gabba in Brisbane. They will take on Australia on October 17 and New Zealand on October 19.
