Team India have finished their preparations for the 20-20 World Cup as they played their last T20I before the mega event against South Africa on Tuesday. The ‘Men-in-blue’ were hammered by the Proteas falling 50 runs short of their target of 228. The Indian bowling once again looked lacklustre as they gave away over 200 runs twice in two games.
With star seamer Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of the World Cup, India are desperately looking for a replacement for their pace spearhead. In the post-match presentation after the third T20I, captain Rohit Sharma stated that the team management is still unsure about Bumrah’s replacement. He further said that he wants to provide clarity to all the bowlers but is confident of the potential that every other bowler has.
“Bumrah is out of the World Cup; that will be a big miss. We need to find a guy, I don’t know who that guy is yet, there are a few guys. We will make that call in Australia,” said Sharma after the match.
“We need to look at our bowling to see what more options we can find in the powerplay, middle overs and death overs. We are still working towards it. Guys need a lot more clarity and it’s my job to make it happen. It’s a work in progress,” the captain added.
The Indian team is all set to leave for Australia on October 6th for preparatory camp ahead of the 20-20 World Cup. According to reports, Umran Malik, Kuldeep Sen and R Sai Kishore will travel with the squad as net bowlers for the World Cup. However, there has been no confirmation regarding the same by the team officials.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Siraj, Mohammad Shami and Deepak Chahar are the three players in contention to replace Jasprit Bumrah in the squad. Siraj played the third T20I against South Africa on Tuesday where he conceded 44 in his four overs failing to pick a wicket.
On the other hand, Chahar picked up three wickets in the series with an economy of 8.00. On the other hand, Shami, who tested positive for COVID-19 before the series hasn’t played a T20I for India since the 20-20 World Cup 2021.
