New Delhi: India’s T20 bowlers need to lift their game in the final overs, head coach Rahul Dravid has said, after pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s injury ruled him out of this month’s World Cup.
Rohit Sharma’s men have haemorrhaged runs at the tail-end of their recent T20 series against both South Africa and Australia, conceding 73 in the last five overs of Tuesday’s loss to the Proteas at Indore.
“We have to look at how we can get better,” Dravid told reporters after the match.
Small margins matter
“Certainly that’s an area that we would like to improve and get better at because margins can be really small in these big tournaments, and every boundary can matter.”
A back injury to Bumrah, who is known as “yorker king” for his ability to bowl the toe-crushing deliveries, has been a big blow to India ahead of the showpiece T20 tournament in Australia, which starts October 16.
Dravid said the team will miss the speedster but are in no hurry to name his replacement.
“Bumrah’s absence is a big loss, he’s been a great player but it happens, it’s an opportunity for someone else to stand up,” Dravid said.
Front-runners to replace Bumrah
Shami, Deepak Chahar and Mohammed Siraj are seen as the front-runners to replace Bumrah. While Siraj and Chahar were part of India’s 2-1 T20 series win over South Africa, Shami has been out of action after failing to recover in time from Covid.
He added that Mohammed Shami would be an “ideal” replacement but it was too soon to tell whether the pacer had recovered from his recent bout with Covid.
“Shami obviously is someone who’s in the standbys, but unfortunately for us, he couldn’t play this (South Africa) series, which would have been ideal from that perspective,” Dravid said. “We have to get reports as to how he is recovering and what’s his status… and we will take a call,” he said.
Shami is undergoing recovery at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. The Indian team management and selectors have until October 15 to name the replacement.
Local conditions
Captain Rohit Sharma said the team would be looking at players who have previous experience of bowling in Australia, where the World Cup begins on October 16.
“I don’t know who that guy is yet. There are a few guys in the reckoning for that, but we’ll make that call once we reach Australia,” he added
Top-ranked India’s World Cup squad will depart for Perth on Thursday to get used to local conditions.
They begin their World Cup campaign in Melbourne against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23.
