One of Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur will replace the injured Jasprit Bumrah in India’s T20 World Cup 2022 squad, with all three set to travel to Australia, as reported by Cricbuzz.
A final decision on the immediate replacement in the main squad is expected to be taken this week, with the deadline being October 15. The other two players will join the travelling reserves list.
Shami, who recently recovered from COVID-19, has been out of international cricket since the ODI series in England in July, and his last T20I appearance came at the T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE. Shami played a key role in Gujarat Titans’ IPL 2022 triumph earlier this year, and is looked at as a frontrunner to replace Japsrit Bumrah, who has been ruled out of the competition with a back injury.
“They have done well no doubt but Shami is the favourite and he should come in,”
a BCCI source told Cricbuzz.
Siraj and Thakur too, remain in contention, after Deepak Chahar, who was named as one of the standby players, missed the trip with an injury. Siraj was recently named the Player of the Series in India’s 2-1 win in ODIs against South Africa at home.
Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi, who were named as standbys will not tour Australia either, with the former to join the Mumbai side at the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022/23. Speedsters Umran Malik and Kuldeep Sen, who were to tour with the team as net bowlers are to stay back in India with visa issues, and have been replaced by Saurabh Kumar and Chetan Sakariya.
India will begin their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign with a Super 12s clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in Melbourne on October 23.
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