Jasprit Bumrah officially ruled out of T20 World Cup, BCCI drops big update on India pacer's replacement

Jasprit Bumrah had earlier missed the Asia Cup and was undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru alongside Harshal Patel.

Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to his injured back, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced via an official statement on Monday. Bumrah's injury comes as a major blow to India after all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out as well before the squad for the T20 World Cup was announced. The board further said in the statement that it will announce a replacement 'soon'.

Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of T20 World Cup(Getty)

"The BCCI Medical team has ruled out Team India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad. The decision was taken following a detailed assessment and in consultation with the specialists. Bumrah, was initially ruled out from the ongoing Mastercard 3-match T20I series against South Africa due to a back injury," read the statement.

Bumrah was ruled out of India's ongoing series against South Africa after complaining of a back pain on the morning of the first T20I. This was followed by reports emerging that the 28-year-old was out of the T20 World Cup altogether. However, India head coach Rahul Dravid and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly both refused to rule him out completely.

Mohammed Shami and Deepak Chahar were named as reserve players when the squad for the T20 World Cup was announced. Additionally, the BCCI had named Mohammed Siraj as Bumrah's replacement for the ongoing series against South Africa. However, the pacer did not feature in the two matches that was played in Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati and it will be interesting to see if the 28-year-old is considered for the final T20I of the series, to be played on Tuesday.

Bumrah had earlier missed the Asia Cup for a similar reason and was undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru alongside Harshal Patel. Following his recovery, the star pacer was drafted in the home T20I series against Australia and South Africa, where he featured in two of the three T20Is against Australia. Bumrah was not included in India's Playing XI for the series opener against South Africa, with captain Rohit Sharma mentioning that he was rested. A couple of days later, he was officially ruled out of the three T20Is

This is not the first time a back injury has come to haunt Bumrah or India. The pacer has earlier faced similar issues due to his slinging unorthodox front-on action, which experts believe puts pressure on his back. Bumrah was sidelined for three months in 2019 due to a minor stress fracture; however, this time the case could be worse and he may once again be out of action for months. A stress fracture does not require surgery and its only healing process is taking rest.

In fact in 2022, Bumrah has only featured in 5 matches each in all the three formats. He played 14 IPL matches for Mumbai Indians this season. Harshal, on the other hand, has featured in both the Australia and South Africa series and if everything falls in place, the death over specialist will be seen in action in Australia. As far as who will take Bumrah's place is still not entirely known. The likely replacement could be Shami, who will be travelling with the team as a reserve. Shami, who has not featured in a single T20I since the World Cup last year was part of the Australia series but was forced to sit out after testing positive for Covid-19. He failed to recover from the virus ahead of the T20Is against South Africa but has now returned negative and was seen bowling at full force in the nets.

The absence of Bumrah and Shami was clearly felt during the Asia Cup as India went with youngster Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar leading the charge. However, a below par show at the tournament by the pacers saw India fail to qualify for the finals, enduring tough defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Now, heading into the World Cup, India's pace bowling line-up promises to make for an interesting read. There is still some time left to ponder over the combinations before India kick-off their campaign against arch rivals Pakistan on October 23.