Ravi Shastri raises concerns on Indian pace battery's regular injury woes ahead of T20 World Cup

Team India dealt with a huge blow, early this month, with Jasprit Bumrah being officially ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to a back stress fracture. Bumrah was out of the Asia Cup due to back issues as well. While Mohammed Shami or Deepak Chahar were being considered as strong contenders to replace Bumrah at the forthcoming mega event, Chahar has also suffered a back injury, ruling him out of the showpiece event in Australia, which gets underway on October 16.

With Bumrah and Chahar both ruled out, BCCI is sending Md Shami, Mohammed Siraj and fast-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur to Australia, where one of the trio will join the main squad as Bumrah's replacement. Ahead of India's tournament opener, former India head coach Ravi Shastri raised concerns about India's pace battery breaking down regularly.

"It was the most frustrating thing for me as (India coach), when you lose key players to injuries. We toured England and New Zealand twice. On all those tours, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was injured, where he'd have got a bagful of wickets with his skills. Now, you see Chahar has hardly played, and he's injured. I was looking at the stats, Bumrah has played 5 matches since the last T20 World Cup and he's injured. So, you've got to look at it very seriously, as to why it is happening," Shastri told senior journalist Ayaz Memon at a 'Meet-the-media programme' at Mumbai Press Club on Wednesday (October 12).

After Bumrah, Chahar's injury also comes as a huge blow to Rohit Sharma & Co. Given he can also bat lower down the order, his absence will also hurt India's chances. "Deepak will take some time to get fit. His back issue has flared up again. His ankle is fine and there wasn't any problem there. So BCCI is sending three reinforcements, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur," a BCCI official had told PTI on conditions of anonymity after the pacer's injury news came out.

India are playing their second and final warm-up game versus Western Australia XI, at The WACA Perth, on Thursday (October 13). After this, they will play Australia and New Zealand, respectively,in two more warm-up encounters before their T20 WC opening fixture, versus Pakistan on October 23 at the MCG, Melbourne.