Team India have left for Australia for the upcoming T20 World Cup without announcing an official replacement for the injured premier quick Jasprit Bumrah.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India and the national selectors are yet to name Bumrah’s replacement, with the team travelling Down Under without an official 15th player. As per the ICC regulations, teams are allowed to make changes for the final squad till October 15. The BCCI is reportedly monitoring the progress of Mohammed Shami, who was named as one of the four reserves and is currently at the National Cricket Academy) in Bangalore after having recovered from covid-19.
“We have time since October 15… Shami is obviously someone who’s in the standbys,”
head coach Rahul Dravid has said of Shami.
“Unfortunately for us, he couldn’t play in this series. It would’ve been ideal from that perspective, but he’s in the National Cricket Academy at the moment. We’ve 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 a report on how he’s feeling, then obviously we can really take a call on how to move forward on it.”
Deepak Chahar, also in reserves alongside Shami, Shreyas Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi is another contender as well as Mohammed Siraj, with both currently being a part of the ODI squad in the ongoing three-match series against South Africa.
India, the inaugural T20 World Cup champions, failed to make it to the semi-finals in the last year’s edition in the UAE, after having gone down to Pakistan and New Zealand, respectively, in their first two Super 12s matches.
They head into the upcoming tournament after having defeated Australia and the Proteas 2-1 in the respective three-match home series recently.
The Men in Blue will play Australia and New Zealand at The Gabba in their two warm-up matches on October 17 and 19, respectively. They will begin their campaign with a Super 12s clash against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23.
