In a massive blow to the Indian team, ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the upcoming T20 World Cup. According to reports that are trickling in, the 28-year-old has suffered a back stress fracture due to which he will not participate in the marquee tournament which is slated to take place in Australia from mid-October.
Bumrah did not travel with the team to Thiruvananthapuram and missed the first T20I between India and South Africa after he complained of back pain during India’s practice session on Tuesday. The surgery won’t be required but it will take about four to six month for him to recover from the injury.
The celebrated pacer had also missed Asia Cup because of back problems and was training at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. On his return, he played two T20Is against Australia. But the recurring back problem has now rendered him incapable of featuring in the T20 World Cup.
His unavailability is a colossal setback for India which is already grappling with poor form of their experienced seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Recently, India have lost a string of matches because of shoddy death-overs bowling.
🚨 UPDATE 🚨
Jasprit Bumrah complained of back pain during India's practice session on Tuesday. The BCCI Medical Team assessed him. He is ruled out of the first #INDvSA T20I.#TeamIndia
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 28, 2022
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Bumrah was expected to spearhead India’s pace bowling and sort this problem out as he has been one of the best death-overs bowlers in the T20 format. But his injury has compounded the problem manifold. Young seamers like Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel will have to step up to the plate and lead the Indian attack in Bumrah’s absence.
He is the second senior Indian cricketer after Ravindra Jadeja, who is recovering from a knee surgery, to be ruled out of the T20 World Cup.
India have two seamers in their reserves – Mohammad Shami & Deepak Chahar – and one of them is likely to replace Bumrah in the squad. They can make changes to their squad without permission from the ICC’s technical committee till October 15.
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