The Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the first T20I against South Africa due to his fractured back complication on Thursday. Pertaining to the new developments in India’s playing XI, Mohammed Siraj, a 28-year-old, right-arm pacer, has now replaced injured Bumrah for India’s remaining two matches in the three-match T20I series against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Indian cricket board has confirmed Bumrah’s withdrawal from the ongoing T20I series against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram. The BCCI secretary, Jay Shah, confirmed the replacement of India’s prime pacer, Jasprit Bumrah recently on Friday, “The All-India Senior Selection Committee has selected Mohd. Siraj as a replacement for injured Indian bowler Jasprit Bumrah for the remaining matches of the T20I series against South Africa,” The BCCI secretary mentioned. Jay Shah also made it clear that Bumrah has sustained some major back injury and is currently under the medical supervision of the BCCI medical team.
Although the absence of Jasprit Bumrah would prove to be a major setback for the Indian cricket team, Mohammed Siraj might be a crucial pick for the national selectors. The right-arm pacer who is also known as India’s red-ball specialist, has played a total of five T20Is and has managed to pick up a total of five wickets. Mohammed Siraj played his last T20I against Sri Lanka at Dharamshala in February this year. Siraj has been a consistent performer for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and maintains an economy of 10.45 in short formats.
According to sources, an official from BCCI recently revealed that Bumrah might not be able to make a comeback in the T20 World Cup. The senior BCCI official also mentioned that it might take six to seven months for Bumrah to return to the field due to the ongoing complications of his back stress fracture.
Bumrah, who came out as a striking hope for the bowling unit of the Indian cricket team during the second and third T20I against Australia in Nagpur and Hyderabad, didn’t travel to Thiruvananthapuram with the team for the series opener against South Africa on Thursday.
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India is currently leading the three-match T20I series against South Africa by 1-0 after winning the first match in Thiruvananthapuram by 8 wickets. The remaining second and third matches of the T20I series are scheduled to be played in Guwahati and Indore on October 2 and October 4 respectively.
Updated list of India’s playing XI in the T20I series against South Africa :
Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj and Shahbaz Ahmed.
