Team India's worst nightmare turned into reality when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on October 03 (Monday) confirmed that ace bowler Jasprit Bumrah will miss the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia due to a back stress fracture. Reacting to the news of ace paceman missing the upcoming multi-national tournament, ace all-rounder Hardik Pandya posted an emotion get-well-soon message for his teammate.
"My Jassi Come back stronger like you always do @Jaspritbumrah93," Hardik said in a tweet.
On October 04 (Tuesday), Bumrah opened up for the first time after being ruled out of the T20 World Cup.
"I am gutted that I won’t be a part of the T20 World Cup this time, but thankful for the wishes, care and support I’ve received from my loved ones. As I recover, I’ll be cheering on the team through their campaign in Australia," Bumrah said in a tweet.
Sports Tak had reported last week that Bumrah will not travel with Team India to Australia after a back stress fracture. In the past few days, there were few reports that BCCI medical team is examining the injury closely and a call can be taken later.
While officially confirming Bumrah's status for the World Cup. the BCCI release on Monday also mentioned that "the decision was taken following a detailed assessment and in consultation with the specialists". Due to injury, Bumrah was also ruled out of the ongoing three-T20I series against South Africa.
Bumrah’s replacement is yet to be named. Earlier, Mohammed Siraj was added to the reserves. Siraj has been out of the T20I side for a while but recently performed well in England during his County stint. The final date to name a replacement is October 15.
So far, Bumrah has played five Tests, five ODIs and five T20Is. He has been rested for multiple series in 2022 in order to manage his workload. He bowled well against Australia in the recently concluded T20I series. The team management has a big task ahead of them as Deepak Chahar has performed exceptionally well in the ongoing T20I series against South Africa. However, Chahar is not known for his bowling in the slog overs.
India T20 World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Standby Players: Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj.
