Jasprit Bumrah's exit from T20 World Cup dents India's chances, but could open up doors for someone else to step up

With India’s T20 World Cup campaign starting on October 23 in Melbourne against arch-rivals Pakistan, time was in any case running out for the premier fast bowler. Since the end of the last T20 World Cup in the UAE, Bumrah had been wrapped in cotton wool by the Indian team think-tank.

India has played the most number of T20 Internationals, 34, amongst all Test playing nations, since the end of the T20 World Cup 2021. But Bumrah in this period has featured in just five T20 Internationals. There was an indication that the Indian team management led by head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma were keen to use Bumrah sparingly. The fast bowler was given more than regular breaks.

Since the end of the last T20 World Cup, Bumrah missed:

• The entire home series against New Zealand (2 Tests and 3 T20Is)

• The entire home series against West Indies (3 ODIs and 3 T20Is)

• One ODI and two T20Is in England

• The entire West Indies tour (3 ODIs and 5 T20Is)

• The Zimbabwe tour (3 ODIs)

• Asia Cup

In the midst of all this, Bumrah led India in the delayed fifth and final Test in England raising hopes that he would even be a contender in the future to lead the side in the longest format. But with the nature of his injury seemingly serious, Bumrah’s long-term hope is to play it safe and not rush back.

The premier fast bowler has to now bide his time, but it has put Dravid & Co in a spot of bother just three weeks out from the start of the T20 World Cup campaign. All the best laid plans for the upcoming T20 World Cup have gone awry.

India was putting together a decent bowling attack for the T20 World Cup with a good complement of medium-pacers to support Bumrah. Harshal Patel was meant to be the designated end overs bowler with Bumrah. Along the way left-arm medium fast bowler Arshdeep Singh also rose through the ranks, raising the collective hopes. The experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar was also around, so the Indian team was shaping up well.

But what has happened since the Asia Cup is a sense of fear about India’s bowling standards. Patel and Bumrah both missed the Asia Cup with injuries, severely denting India’s bowling. Then there was a sameness to the attack with Kumar leading the way. Towards the end of the innings, India’s bowling just could not handle the onslaught of the Pakistan and Sri Lankan batters. India was knocked out early from the Asia Cup.

It was hoped that Bumrah and Patel would return for the home series against Australia and South Africa, so things would look up.
But in the very first T20I against Australia, captain Sharma announced that Bumrah has been rested so doubts were raised. In a high-scoring chase in the first T20I, Australia came good again raising eyebrows about India’s bowling attack.

India managed to pull things back in the series as Bumrah made two appearances. It seemed like just his presence lifted the entire side.
The Indian think-tank was understandably keen to keep things quiet about their premier fast bowler because they did not want other sides to be aware so early in the piece. Hence when news first came out about Bumrah missing out the T20 World Cup, it came through sources. BCCI President Sourav Ganguly sought to play the whole thing down.

Speaking to Xtra Time digital channel in Kolkata, Ganguly said, “Bumrah is not out of the World Cup yet” on 30 September.

Head coach Dravid, too, played it safe.

“I have not gone deeply into the medical reports. I rely on the experts to tell me what it is. They ruled him out for this series (against South Africa) and he is being assessed. We will know in due course what happens in future. Obviously, till he is completely ruled out, till I get official confirmation that he is ruled out, we will always be hopeful. We will always hope for the best for us as a team and also for Jasprit as an individual. We will always hope for the best,” said Rahul Dravid in the pre-match press conference ahead of the second T20I against South Africa.

“As of now, he has been officially ruled out of this T20 series of South Africa for these two games. He has gone to the NCA and we are waiting for the official confirmation on next steps. So, as of now officially he is only ruled out of this series but we will see what happens in next few days and once we get some official confirmation and we will be able to share that with you,” added Dravid.

But a lot changed between October 1 when Dravid met the media and October 3 when the news was finally officially confirmed by the BCCI.

Unfortunately, what seemed like embarrassment of fast-bowling riches when all the best bets were on display during the IPL, now seems to have been a mirage!

With the effervescent Ravindra Jadeja also being ruled out, India found a ready replacement in Axar Patel. But the same has not been with the case with Bumrah, underlining his uniqueness.

The selectors have had to go back in time to bring Mohammed Shami into the mix. Since the T20 World Cup 2021, Shami has not played a single T20I. In fact reports suggested that Shami had been told that he is not in the T20 scheme of things. Shami has not played any international or any kind of cricket since July 2022. Shami was meant to return for the Australia series, but he was then down with Covid19.

So in came Umesh Yadav, once again after a long layoff of 43 months from the white ball formats. Then Mohammed Siraj came back into the mix once Bumrah was declared unfit for the South Africa series.

Some others like Avesh Khan who proved to be a millionaire with his bowling during his recent T20I appearances or Prasidh Krishna were unwell.

So the selectors and the team management really had a problem on their hands.

To top it off Patel, who was coming back from a rib injury, also found it difficult to get back into the groove. Young Arshdeep is also said to be suffering from back trouble. Arshdeep was also rested in the T20I series against Australia.

India’s biggest bane in recent T20Is has been the fact that they have been unable to pick up wickets up front or restrict batters towards the end of an innings. With Bumrah ruled out, the other contenders coming in from the cold and few others under an injury cloud, India is back to square one.

Hence to be on the safe side India is carrying plenty of net bowlers especially express pacemen Umran Malik and Kuldeep Sen. India is travelling 17 days before their opening encounter. They will in fact camp in Perth and play three practice games before the official warm-up games.

This should give enough time to come up with a combination.
Injuries are part and parcel of an athlete’s career, but what Bumrah’s injury has done is that it has completely changed India’s outlook in the lead-up to the World Cup.

One school of thought is that India should pick a left field choice like Umran Malik as Bumrah’s replacement just because of his express pace. Right now, India battles the image of sameness in the bowling attack, Malik’s presence could likely shake things up for the better.

But then would you want to make that big change so close to the World Cup?
India’s choices are limited as they are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. This does not mean that India is completely out of the race when it comes to the T20 World Cup title, but it has taken a huge beating.

In fact the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 did not feature any of India's premier players at the time including Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Anil Kumble or even Zaheer Khan. It opens up the door for some other contender to stake his claim and rise to the occasion. Who could it be? Depends on who is finally chosen as Bumrah's replacement.

Till then we wait, watch and pray!