Ajay Jadeja gives Waqar Younis' example, explains how India can still win T20 WC sans Jasprit Bumrah

On Monday evening (October 03), the BCCI announced that Jasprit Bumrah is officially ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to back stress fracture. Bumrah's injury woes started before the Asia Cup. The speedster missed the continental tournament, held in the UAE, and returned during the home T20Is versus Australia -- where he played two out of the three games.

After missing the three-match T20I series opener versus South Africa, which concluded on Tuesday (October 05), Bumrah was monited by the BCCI medical team before a final call was taken on his T20 WC chances. With him out of the scene for the forthcoming mega event, Rohit Sharma-led India have a herculean task to fill in for Bumrah and go all the distance in the upcoming edition in Australia.

Former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja, speaking on the Cricbuzz show, cited Waqar Younis' example and explained how India can still win the T20 WC title sans Bumrah. The 51-year-old pointed out that the Indian team should not have a problem without the pacer, as no role was assigned to him.

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"You know, this is a really tough one to answer. But to make it simple and for fans, just to give them hope. One is that we didn't play with Jasprit Bumrah throughout this year. We played very few games with Jasprit Bumrah and India still managed to do well," Jadeja said.

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Jadeja further opined, "So there is no role play that got assigned to him. So, luckily, from that point of view, you know the Indian team should not have that problem. You cannot replace Jasprit Bumrah, not even close, because he is so unique that you will miss him."

"Two, just to give you an assurance that you know people who are young and who've joined us, I'll give them a story from 30 years ago. There was another World Cup in Australia in 1992. The team that won that World Cup, not many people in India would like this. The team that won that World Cup had a similar thing happen to them. A man called Waqar Younis, in that period of time, was the finest bowler in that format or any format, and just like Jasprit Bumrah, he was that attacking a bowler. He missed out on that World Cup just before with a back injury, pretty similar to Jasprit Bumrah's, but at the end of the day, Pakistan happened to win that World Cup," he added.