"He is someone, who is in"- Rahul Dravid hints at a pacer as Bumrah's replacement for T20 WC
On Tuesday, India lost the third and final T20 against South Africa in Indore by 49 runs. Batting first, South Africa scored a mammoth total of 227/3 in their 20 overs. Once again, Indian bowling proved to be the weaker area for the Indian team.
Thus, almost every bowler leaked runs at the highest economy rate, which could prove to be a big concern for the team in the World Cup in Australia. India don't have any games left ahead of the tournament. They will play a few warm-up games only.
With the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, India might suffer in the all-important tournament. However, on Monday, the BCCI confirmed the news of Bumrah being ruled out of the T20 World Cup, but they are yet to announce the replacement. The likes of Mohammed Shami, Deepak Chahar, and Mohammed Siraj are a few names that are coming out.
However, India's head coach, Rahul Dravid, hinted at a name who might be replacing Bumrah in the team. In the post-match press conference on Tuesday, he revealed the name of the person who is a possible replacement for the ace pacer.
He said, "Shami is someone who is in the standbys but he could not play unfortunately in these two series. It would have been ideal from that perspective but he is in the NCA at the moment. We will have to get reports and will take a call after that."
India has suffered badly in recent times in the pace-bowling department. All the pacers have conceded runs at a higher economy, especially in the death overs. This will be a big ask for the team to go into the World Cup and perform well in pace bowling. India has already conceded 200+ five times in 2022, which is the highest in history.
In both series against Australia and South Africa, it was India's bowling that raised the eyebrows of everyone. Well, India is scheduled to play a few practise games ahead of the tournament and will hope to find the solution as soon as possible. The Men in Blue will open their campaign against Pakistan on October 23.