New Delhi: The BCCI senior selection committee named Friday seasoned pacer Mohammed Shami as injured Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement in the Indian team for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. “The all-India senior selection committee has named Mohammed Shami as Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement in India’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad. Shami has reached Australia and will link up with the squad in Brisbane ahead of the warm-up matches,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a press release. That Shami would replace Bumrah in the main squad was reported by a section of the media in the recent past.
Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur have been named as backups and will travel to Australia shortly. The tournament will be held from October 16 to November 13.
Bumrah has been ruled out of competitive cricket for an indefinite period due to stress related injury on his back.
Shami had last played in T20 Internationals during the last edition of the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE. He was supposed to play in the six T20Is at home against Australia and South Africa but tested positive for Covid-19 and had to remain in isolation. On return he had to prove his fitness before NCA approved his trip to Australia. So far Shami has played 17 T20Is and has taken 18 wickets.
Going into the tournament, what will be worrying for India is that Shami hasn’t played white ball cricket – especially the shortest version of the game for a long time. Bhubaneshwar Kumar as the leader of the Indian pace attack hasn’t looked too inspiring in the recently-concluded series against Australia and South Africa. So it remains to be seen how Shami shoulders the burden now.