The suspense was finally over on Friday when India recalled their seasoned campaigner in Mohammad Shami to replace pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in their final squad of 15 members for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2022, to be played in Australia from October 16.
Jasprit Bumrah had earlier been ruled out of the tournament due to a back stress fracture and Mohammad Shami, who himself has been on a long comeback trail, will be making his return to the shortest format after appearing for India in the last such event in the UAE in 2021.
Before the Indian selectors announced the official replacement for Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami had already left for Australia along with two other players Shardul Thakur and Mohammad Siraj to join the touring Indian side in Perth ahead of their to official warm-up matches against Australia and New Zealand on October 17 and 19 respectively.
Shardul Thakur and Mohammad Siraj, who both were impressive against South Africa in the recently concluded one-day international series which India won 2-1, have been added to the Indian side as backup players.
After their ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out for about six weeks due to a stress-related back injury, both Indian captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid had hinted on wanting an experienced player in Australia for the T20 World Cup.
Mohammad Shami has been a part of many Indian tours to Australia including their twin Test series wins over the last two trips as well as in the 2015 ODI World Cup, wherein he was the second highest wicket-taker for the country.
With the addition of Mohammad Shami, India’s fast bowling attack for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 is complete with the other options being Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel and all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
The senior Indian fast bowler Mohammad Shami will indeed need some game-time and a lot of build up sessions before the team hits the ground running on October 23 in their all-important clash against Pakistan in Melbourne. Mohammad Shami hasn’t played any top-flight cricket in the last three months, having been laid low due to coronavirus infection as well.
The BCCI announced in a media release,
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Mohammad Shami as Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement in India’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad. Shami has reached Australia and will link up with the squad in Brisbane ahead of the warm-up matches. Mohammad Siraj and Shardul Thakur have been named as backups and will travel to Australia shortly.”
