“We’ve got to get someone in who’s got experience, who’s bowled in Australia, and see what he has to offer,” Rohit said
Karthik Krishnaswamy05-Oct-20221:25
Jaffer backs Chahar to replace Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah is out of the T20 World Cup. India have until October 15 to name their replacement, but their coach Rahul Dravid and their captain Rohit Sharma have both hinted that Mohammed Shami might be the frontrunner.Shami last played a T20I during last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, and his chance of getting game-time ahead of this year’s tournament vanished when he tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the three-match series against Australia last month. He missed both that series and the three T20Is against South Africa that followed, and is currently in Bengaluru, where his fitness is being assessed at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).Related
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Shami and Deepak Chahar are the two fast bowlers among the reserve players in India’s T20 World Cup squad, but the selectors are entitled to look outside the reserve group if they so wish.”In terms of who the replacement is, we’ll have a look, we’ll see, we’ve got time till October 15th,” Dravid said on Tuesday night, at a press conference after the third T20I against South Africa in Indore. “Shami obviously is someone who’s in the standbys, but unfortunately for us, he couldn’t play this series, which would have been ideal from that perspective.”He’s in the NCA at the moment – we’ll have 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 reports on how he’s feeling, then we can take a call and the selectors can take a call on how we move forward on it.”Rohit, meanwhile, suggested at the post-match presentation that India would be looking for a bowler with experience in Australian conditions.”We’ve got to get someone in who’s got experience, who’s bowled in Australia, and see what he has to offer,” Rohit said. “I don’t know who that guy is yet. There are a few guys in the reckoning for that, but we’ll make that call once we reach Australia.”Shami has been part of multiple tours of Australia, and has been involved in two Test-series wins as well as an ODI World Cup in which he was among the leading wicket-takers.He has, however, played only one T20I in the country, though this is unlikely to count against him in a straight shootout with Chahar, who has only played three T20Is in Australia and no international games in the other formats.