Mohammed Shami has replaced injured Jasprit Bumrah in the 15-member Indian cricket squad for the T20 World Cup 2022, starting October 16 in Australia. Shami was initially named in the standby list for the T20 World Cup squad but stress related injury on his back ruled Bumrah out of the mega event and that opened the doors for the veteran pacer. Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur have been named as backups and will travel to Australia shortly. Deepak Chahar was also in race for the spot left vacant by Bumrah but his struggle with injury of late kept him out of contention. India start their T20 World Cup campaign on October 23 with a match against arch-rivals Pakistan.
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Mohammed 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,” the BCCI said in a statement on Friday.
“Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur have been named as backups and will travel to Australia shortly.”
Shami had last played in T20 Internationals during the last edition of the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE. He was supposed to play in the six T20Is at home against Australia and South Africa but tested positive for CIVID-19 and had to remain in isolation. On return he had to prove his fitness before NCA approved his trip to Australia. Shami has played 17 T20Is and has taken 18 wickets.
Indian fast bowling line-up now includes Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh. Earlier, several former cricketers and ex-BCCI selectors including Dilip Vengsarkar and Krishnamachari Srikkanth said that they would have loved to see Shami in the squad. Shami had a great run for IPL 2022 champions Gujarat Titans picking 20 wickets in 16 matches at a strike-rate of 18.30. His economy was 8.00 RPO. He was GT’s top wicket-taker in the competition.
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.
With PTI inputs
