Jasprit Bumrah, India’s top paceman, is expected to miss the ICC T20 World Cup due to a back stress fracture, according to news agency PTI, citing BCCI sources. This might be a major setback to India’s ambitions of doing well at the tournament in Australia. While the Board of Control for Cricket in India has yet to officially clarify the situation, Bumrah’s withdrawal from India’s series opener against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday has not been encouraging.
Just minutes before the toss at Greenfield Stadium, BCCI received word of Bumrah’s injury. “During Tuesday’s practise session for India, Jasprit Bumrah expressed back soreness. He was examined by the BCCI Medical Team. He will not play in the opening T20I “BCCI posted a tweet. The last two T20Is against Australia were played by Bumrah, who also missed the Asia Cup because of a back issue and was practising at the National Cricket Academy.
For the T20 World Cup, India has players like Mohammed Shami and Deepak Chahar on the standby list; one of them may now be called up to the starting lineup. Chahar had a strong performance in the match against South Africa and might be chosen over Shami because of his greater batting abilities lower in the order. Captain Rohit Sharma has acknowledged that India’s death bowling has been a problem. Due to his dismal performances, veteran paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been under criticism, and with Bumrah’s absence, the young Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel will be under pressure to produce.
