India likely to call Mohd Shami as Bumrah’s replacement for T20 World Cup 2022: Injured Indian speedster Jasprit Bumrah is likely to be replaced by veteran bowler Mohammad Shami in India’s campaign in the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. The official decision from the BCCI is yet to be announced, but the sources have confirmed that the Indian think tank is zeroing on Shami to fill Bumrah’s shoes.
Team India head coach Rahul Dravid also hinted at Shami’s inclusion in the side post the India vs South Africa 3rd T20I at Indore. Dravid said the final call on Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement will be taken after accessing Shami’s recovery.
Notably, Shami had to miss the home T20I series against Australia and South Africa as he was infected with Covid-19.
“In terms of who the replacement is, we’ll have a look, we’ll see, we’ve got time till October 15th,” Rahul Dravid said during the post-match press conference on Tuesday (4th October).
“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.”
The Indian head coach added that Shami is currently at the NCA and the management will take a call once they get a thorough idea of how the pacer is recovering.
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“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,” he added.
Rohit Sharma also put forth high chances of Mohammad Shami’s inclusion in the Indian side for the T20 World Cup 2022. He opened that they are looking for a bowler who has good experience of bowling on the Australian tracks and Shami evidently possesses all the qualifications.
“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 in the post-match press conference after South Africa blocked India’s clean sweep. “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.”
Mohd Shami has been on multiple tours to Down Under. He was also a part of the two test series win and an ODI World Cup win in Australia.
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