Team India have the upper hand heading into the 2nd T20I against South Africa in Guwahati on Sunday as the Men in Blue will hope to clinch the three-match T20I series. Rohit Sharma's men defeated Temba Bavuma's visiting team by 8 wickets in a one-sided contest on Wednesday.
The win consolidated India's lead in the series, however, a day later they were handed a body blow as Jasprit Bumrah was reportedly ruled out of the T20 World Cup 2022 through a back injury.
The hosts will have a chance of completing a rare home series win over the Proteas, who have been kryptonite for the Men in Blue in recent years whenever they come to tour the subcontinent.
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Bumrah was expected to play a key role in Indian team's campaign in the Australian conditions but his "back stress fracture" has ruled him out of the ICC flagship event, starting in three weeks' time.
The ongoing series was originally planned as the final tune-up for Rahul Dravid's team but Bumrah's absence from the remaining two T20Is has now thrown more questions than answers.
Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Siraj have been added to the squad as injury replacements but they do not figure in the World Cup-bound squad, as of now.
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The burning question is, will the two remaining T20Is give the team management scope to test Bumrah's replacement? The seasoned Mohammad Shami, who is in the World Cup squad as stand-by, is not here for the South Africa series.
Shami has recovered from COVID-19 and has more chances of making it to Australia because of his experience Down Under. If that's the case, he might end up having little game time before their World Cup warm-up fixture against the reigning champions on October 16.
For the SA series, the team has a fit-again Deepak Chahar who also figures in the World Cup standby. Chahar (4-0-24-2) looked in fine mettle when he along with young left-arm pace gun Arshdeep Singh (4-0-32-3) reduced the Proteas to 9/5 inside the power on the Greenfield track as India took a 1-0 lead.
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But swing will be out of the equation in conditions Down Under and Chahar is more in the mould of Bhuvenshwar Kumar, who is in the World Cup XI along with Arshdeep.
Siraj, on the other hand, has struggled of late and has inspired very little confidence.
It's a different debate altogether that Bhuvneshwar, who is short on experience -- three T20Is -- in Australia has started leaking runs and no longer holds the ace, as it was seen in their Asia Cup elimination last month.
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Ditto for World Cup-bound Harshal Patel as it remains to be seen how the think-tank manages to arrange the jigsaw.
In the past, they have overcome bigger hurdles, like when in 2020-21 they won a back-to-back series in Australia with their fifth or sixth-choice bowlers.
With inputs from PTI
