'Has almost recovered from Covid...': Shami to replace Bumrah in India's T20 World Cup team? Ex-player gives huge update
With Jasprit Bumrah missing out on the upcoming T20 World Cup, a former player gave a huge fitness update on Mohammed Shami, who is expected to fill in for the pacer.
With Jasprit Bumrah missing out on the upcoming T20 World Cup due to injury, Team India have a huge task in hand and have pacers Mohammed Shami, Deepak Chahar as reserves at their disposal. With a name not announced yet, former cricketer Parthiv Patel feels Shami is the 'frontrunner' and 'deserves' to replace Bumrah in Rohit Sharma's squad. Speaking to Cricbuzz, the former wicketkeeper-batter also gave a huge update about Shami, who is currently recovering from a bout of Covid-19.
"Most likely I feel in this squad, Mohammad Shami will replace Jasprit Bumrah. Hopefully, because we have 20 days to go and he has almost recovered from Covid-19. Before the World Cup, India will play two practice matches in Perth, then vs Australia, and vs New Zealand. So he will get match-time. According to me, he deserves a place. I feel he is the frontrunner", he said.
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Bumrah has been ruled out of the tournament due to an injured back and India will also be without star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. With many senior players rested for the ongoing ODI series vs South Africa, Shikhar Dhawan is currently leading India, who trail 0-1, and the second ODI is scheduled for Sunday.
Rohit recently led the hosts to a 2-1 win vs South Africa in a three-match T20I series. He will be hoping to build on his side's momentum and begin their T20 World Cup campaign with a win against Pakistan. India's T20 World Cup opener against Babar Azam's side is scheduled for October 23, and will be held in Melbourne. After the third T20I, Rohit revealed that India will need to find a bowler 'who has the experience of bowling in Australia'.
Without revealing much about Bumrah's replacement, he said, "It's a work in progress, we need to keep working and keep finding answers to it. 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. Only 7,8 members of the squad have been to Australia, so we have organised a few practise games. We need to understand what combination we can play. Bumrah is out of the World Cup, so we need to find a bowler who has the experience of bowling in Australia. Not sure who that bowler is going to be, we will see once we travel to Australia, we'll find it out there."
