Team India Leaving for Australia without Jaspreet Bumrah

In 24 hours, India will depart for their World Cup without the 15th member of the team. All 18 players will leave for Australia and play their first World Cup match against Pakistan on October 23. The Indian Cricket Board has not yet decided who will replace the 15th player. The national selectors and the Board of Control for Cricket in India will put off choosing a replacement for Jasprit Bumrah, who was just eliminated from the competition (BCCI).

The scenario happened from concern over Mohammed Shami’s suitability to take Bumrah’s Replacement. According to information obtained by Cricbuzz, the BCCI, the selectors, and the team management have chosen to monitor the experienced pacer’s recovery from a case of the Covid-19 virus.

The NCA’s medical team will assess his fitness and report to the BCCI before making a final decision. According to reports, the BCCI will wait until October 15 to announce the whole squad, as ICC rules require.

Head coach Rahul Dravid on Mohammed Shami: “We’ll have a look. We’ve had time since October 15. Shami is someone who’s on the standby list. Unfortunately for us, he couldn’t play in this series. It would’ve been ideal from that perspective, but he’s currently in the National Cricket Academy. We have to get reports on how he’s recovering and his status after 14–15 days of COVID, and we’ll take a call. Once I get a report on how he’s feeling, we can take a call on how to move forward on it.”

Mohammed Siraj and Deepak Chahar will enter the picture if Shami unexpectedly fails to reach the necessary fitness levels. The selectors will also have the advantage of observing them play the three ODIs against the visiting South Africa team over the following seven days before picking any of them. In a perfect world, the selectors would have liked Shami to play in the ODIs, but that did not happen due to his COVID problem.