Umesh Yadav's return to the Indian T20I side after 43 months he last played against Australia in February 2019 for three-match T20I series against Australia as a replacement for Mohammed Shami, who was ruled out after testing positive for Covid-19, has raised a few eyebrows.
READ: Umesh Yadav announced as replacement for Mohammed Shami ahead of T20I series against Australia
Skipper Rohit Sharma backed the experienced pacer to come good and cited his performance in IPL 2022. He also revealed why Siraj was not called up to the squad.
"Guys like Umesh, Shami, who have been bowling for a long time. They do not need to be playing a format to be considered. They have proven themselves as players in whichever format they have played. We understand the quality, it is the new guys on whom it will depend whether they have played this format or not. But guys like Umesh and Shami, if they are fit and fine, they will be called back," said Rohit in the pre-match press conference.
"We don't need to look at their form, we saw how Umesh bowled in the IPL. He bowled really well, he swings the ball, bowls fast. That was the thought, pretty simple actually. It was not much of a discussion for us. Keeping in mind World Cup is around the corner, we have tried a lot of players. We are very much clear in our thought process and how we want to move forward," he added.
The India captain also said that they had fewer options to consider because some players are injured.
READ: https://www.dnaindia.com/cricket/report-umesh-yadav-announced-as-replacement-for-mohammed-shami-ahead-of-t20i-series-against-australia-2986261
"There were few options, but few of them are injured like Prasidh (Krishna). Siraj is playing county, we do not want him to fly all the way, maybe play one or two games. That won't be fair. Obviously, Shami, unfortunate incident with him. Avesh was quite sick in the Asia Cup and he needs some time to recover. From fitness point of view, he needed some time and rebuild his fitness. All those things were considered."
