Ending the suspense over who will replace the injured Jasprit Bumrah in the Indian men’s cricket squad for the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia, the BCCI on Friday confirmed that the seasoned Mohammed Shami will join the team in Brisbane as the 15th member.
“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 general secretary Jay Shah said in a statement on Friday.
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Additionally, pacer Mohammed Siraj and allrounder Shardul Thakur have been named as backups and will travel to Australia shortly.
In a big setback to the former champions, Bumrah was ruled out from the showpiece event due to a back injury. He had briefly made his competitive return during the three-match T20I series with Australia wherein he played in two contests.
However, the 28-year-old was subsequently ruled out from the three-match T20I series with South Africa at home and following which, the BCCI confirmed he’s been ruled out from the world cup as well.
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The Indian team departed for Australia without naming a replacement for Bumrah though. Various names were thrown about in media reports as the possible candidates including Siraj and Thakur.
Shami was a prime candidate and was expected to prove his match fitness and form during the white-ball matches at home in the lead up to the world cup. However, he contracted covid days before the Australia T20Is and was unable to take part in any of the games.
Shami hasn’t played a T20I since the world cup last year in UAE where India exited in the group stage itself.
India begin their world cup campaign against Pakistan on October 23 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. They have been pooled alongside Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh in Super 12 Group 2 and will be joined by two qualifiers.
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.
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