The need of the hour would have suggested India take a risk and play Jasprit Bumrah at the T20 World Cup 2022. For Bumrah is irreplaceable and there is no fast bowler in the country who is as good and threatening and experienced as Bumrah in all three phases of the game.
But, India skipper Rohit Sharma said they didn’t want to put Bumrah’s body and further career in jeopardy and hence decided that his career is more important than one tournament – the T20 World Cup 2022, where India will kick off their campaign on October 23 against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Earlier this month, Jasprit Bumrah was officially ruled out of the tournament following a recurrence of his back injury. Bumrah had missed the Asia Cup and two months of action due to this back injury, but made a return for a couple of T20Is against Australia before his back injury flared up again.
Will India reach the semis without Jasprit Bumrah?
Speaking at the captain’s press conference on Saturday, Rohit Sharma said this about Bumrah: “We spoke to a lot of the specialists about his injuries, but we did not get a decent response. This World Cup is important, but his career is more important. He is only 27-28, there is a lot of cricket in front of him.
“So, we can’t take such a risk. All the specialists we spoke to were of the same opinion. There is a lot of cricket ahead of him, he will play a lot more and help India win matches. There is no doubt that he will be missed.”
The selectors earlier this week named the experienced Mohammed Shami as Bumrah’s replacement in the squad and added Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur as back-ups after Deepak Chahar was also ruled out, also because of a back injury.
India and Pakistan are placed in Group 2 alongside South Africa, Bangladesh and two other teams that will come from the preliminary qualifying round. India are also without the injured Ravindra Jadeja in this tournament.
