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| Cricbuzz |
In less than 24 hours, the Indian team will be leaving for the T20 World Cup in Australia with about 18 players in the contingent, but without the official 15th player of the squad. The national selectors and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are set to defer the announcement of a replacement for Jasprit Bumrah, who has recently been ruled out of the tournament.
The situation has come about because of uncertainty over the fitness of Mohammed Shami, the designated substitute for Bumrah. Cricbuzz has learnt that the BCCI, the selectors and the team management have decided to wait on the progress of the veteran pacer, who is coming out of a bout of Covid-19 virus.
Despite Shami showing improving fitness of late in the nets, everyone concerned wants to be sure about his readiness for the October 16-November 13 championship. The pacer now has been asked to report at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
Head coach Rahul Dravid on Mohammed Shami: "We'll have a look. We've time since October 15... Shami is obviously someone who's in the standbys. Unfortunately for us, he couldn't play in this series. It would've been ideal from that perspective, but he's in the National Cricket Academy at the moment. We've to get reports as to how he's recovering, and what's his status after 14-15 days of covid, and we'll take a call. Once I get a report on how he's feeling, then obviously we can really take a call on how to move forward on it."