The biggest dread of the Indian cricket team has come true. According to a statement released by the BCCI on Monday, Jasprit Bumrah has been formally disqualified from the T20 World Cup owing to a back injury. His prospects of competing were hanging by a thread. The best fast bowler for India, Bumrah, was taken out of the three-match T20I series against South Africa because of back strain. Following last week's first news of his expulsion from India's T20 World Cup team, the uncertainty surrounding his availability increased when India coach Rahul Dravid and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly declined to rule him out completely. But all the rumors were put to rest on Monday night with a release, leaving India without their star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
However, the management is still stalling in regards to Bumrah's successor. The BCCI will shortly decide whether to invite someone from outside the team, like Mohammed Siraj, or to choose one of the two reserve players, Mohammed Shami and Deepak Chahar, for the main squad. Bumrah's replacement against South Africa, Siraj, was just announced, while Shami, who hasn't played in a T20I for India since the World Cup last year, was spotted warming up in the nets.
But even though all three of them might be considered contenders, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes Bumrah's absence will be difficult to fill. This is especially true given how awful India's death bowling has been lately.
All three bowlers—Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshal Patel—have given pleanty of runs in their last three overs, particularly the 19th. It is what cost India the two critical matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup Super 4s, as well as the opening T20I against Australia, when they were unable to defend 208-runs . In the second T20I against South Africa, a similar image returned to torment India, but Rohit Sharma and company managed to defend 237. Bumrah was the only Indian bowler who did not give up runs, as seen by the two T20I matches he participated in against Australia. Gavaskar thinks this might be a major problem for India during the World Cup time.
"Jasprit Bumrah's absence from the Indian team for the World Cup will hurt India considerably. There's no other player in the Indian team, with due respect to every other player, whose absence means so much than Bumrah," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.
"We saw in the two games that he played how effective he was and how his presence in the team galvanised the other bowlers. Whether he made the comeback too soon, is now something in the nature of conjecture, but the fact remains that his absence is a huge blow for India’s prospects in the T20 World Cup. The way Deepak Chahar and young Arshdeep Singh exploited the conditions in Thiruvananthapuram does give hope that, with a bit of luck, they can fill in a fair bit of the hole left by Bumrah's absence."
Gavaskar also commented on the possibility that Axar Patel may succeed Ravindra Jadeja. Axar has recently bowled excellently for India in the Powerplays even though his hitting and fielding may not be on par with Jadeja's. Axar has demonstrated his skill even with the bat, helping India defeat the West Indies in a nail-biting match in August. Axar may now get his chance to shine for India at the biggest platform of them all after honing his abilities for years playing in the IPL, says Gavaskar.
"Ravindra Jadeja's absence is being made up to a great extent by Axar Patel and the way he is bowling does give the belief that he can limit the runs as well as take wickets. Over the years, he has added variety by the deft use of the crease and also the delivery speeds and angles. All the experience gathered in the IPL has been put to great use by the left-handed all-rounder. He will once again be the player to watch out for," said the legendary India batter.
The Men in Blue have sealed the T20I series against South Africa with one game to go. They will open their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan at the MCG on October 23.
READ| 'Speedy recovery to our...', BCCI wishes Jasprit Bumrah after Indian pace bowler officially ruled out of T20 World Cup
