India’s long wait for Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement in the T20 World Cup has finally ended. On Friday, October 14, the All-India Senior Selection Committee named Mohammed Shami as Bumrah’s replacement, with the veteran pacer already in Australia to join the squad.
Bumrah made his competitive debut in a three-match T20I series against Australia last month, but he was ruled out of the subsequent series against South Africa due to a new back injury. Later scans revealed that the pace spearhead would also miss the T20 World Cup, which begins on October 16 in Australia.
While rumours were adrift that the 32-year-old Shami would be called back into the squad to replace Bumrah, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) finally confirmed the news in an official statement from secretary Jay Shah saying, “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,”
Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur have been named as backups and will travel to Australia shortly. 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.