T20 World Cup 2022: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly not giving up on injured Jasprit Bumrah's participation in the showpiece event
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly has clarified the status of Jasprit Bumrah following reports of him being ruled out of the upcoming 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. The former Indian captain clarified that the ace pacer is still in the mix and that the final call on his availability will be taken in the next few days.
The 28-year-old right-arm fast bowler returned to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru on Wednesday, September 28, from Thiruvanthapuram to undergo scans.
Bumrah missed the opening T20I against South Africa after reportedly sustaining a stress fracture on his back.
He was eventually ruled out of the remaining two T20Is against the Proteas and also runs the risk of missing the T20 World Cup, which starts later this month. The Ahmedabad-born player's injury is likely to have worsened after playing two out of the three T20Is at home against Australia. He returned to action after a two-month injury layoff, prompting him to miss the 2022 Asia Cup in the UAE.
Speaking on the Xtra Time digital channel in Kolkata on Friday, September 30, Ganguly said:
"Bumrah is not out of the World Cup yet."
The Indian team's medical staff, alongside the NCA, decided to have fresh scans done in Bengaluru. According to ESPN Cricinfo, the independent medical consultants hired by the BCCI will assess them and co-ordinate with the board's medical experts to determine further steps.
Jasprit Bumrah unlikely to travel with the Indian team to Australia for the T20 World Cup
According to News18, due to his injury, Bumrah is unlikely to travel with the national team on October 6 to prepare for the T20 World Cup. He will join the team at a later date if declared fit. Rohit Sharma and Co. will be in Perth until October 13 before heading to Brisbane. They will play a couple of warm-up games against the hosts and New Zealand on October 17 and 19, respectively.
India will open their campaign against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23. The Men in Blue, who were the inaugural T20 world champions, haven't won an ICC title since 2013.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Stand-by: Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishoni, Deepak Chahar.