Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday named Mohammed Shami as replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah in Team India’s T20 World Cup squad.
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Mohammed Shami as Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement in India’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad. Shami has reached Australia and will link up with the squad in Brisbane ahead of the warm-up matches,” BCCI stated.
Shami and Deepak Chahar were the two fast bowlers named among standbyes in the original squad. But even Chahar was ruled out two days ago due to a back injury, leaving Shami as the selectors’ clear choice.
It was poetic justice for the experienced 32-year-old Bengal pacer, who many felt should have been there in the original 15-man squad announced a month ago.
Shami missed out on the recent six T20 Internationals at home against Australia and South Africa after contracting COVID-19. After recovering, he had to prove his fitness at NCA before being cleared for the trip to Australia.
Pacers Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur have been named will also travel with the squad to Australia as back-ups.
Team India will play two warm-up matches – against Australia (November 17) and New Zealand (November 19) – before opening their World Cup campaign with a clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on November 23.
REVISED TEAM INDIA SQUAD
Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.
Reserve players: Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi.
