Shardul Thakur, Md. Shami and Md. Siraj to leave for Australia; Deepak Chahar out of T20 World Cup - Report
Siraj, Shami and Shardul wil travel to Australia for T20 World Cup 2022.
Deepak Chahar has been ruled out of the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 due to a back injury. The pacer, who was part of India's stand-by list for the World Cup, was in contention to make it to the main squad after Jasprit Bumrah was sidelined from the tournament due to an injury. However, Chahar will not travel to Australia for the showpiece event.
In his absence, BCCI is all set to send three pacers as reinforcements for the Indian squad. Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur will travel to Australia and join the rest of the Indian contingent down under. Shami was originally part of India's stand-by list while Siraj and Shardul are the new inclusions.
Shami remains the frontrunner to take Bumrah's spot in the main 15-man squad now that Chahar is no more in the fray. However, he faces serious competition from Siraj, who impressed in the recently-concluded ODI series against South Africa at home. While one of them will make it to the main squad, the other two will be part of the reserves.
Also Read:'I am not disappointed' - Kuldeep Yadav reacts after not being part of India's T20 World Cup squad
"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 was quoted as saying by PTI.
The Indan selectors do not have much time to name the official replacement for Bumrah as October 15 is the deadline to announce the final changes in the squad. The T20 World Cup s set to get underway on October 16 with Indiaopening theircampaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23.
The Indian squad is already in Perth, Australia where they have been fine-tuning their preparations ahead of the start of the T20 World Cup. India recently defeated Western Australia XI in a warm-up match and are scheduled to play one more practice match against the same team in Perth before taking on New Zealand and Australia in two more warm-up matches.
In the absence of Bumrah, expectations will be high from Shami if he is roped into the squad as the official replacement for the injured pacer. Shami has the experience and the skills to be the strike bowler for the Men in Blue in the tournament, however, he has not played a T20I for India since the T20 World Cup last year which remains a huge concern for the team.