Reports: Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik added as reserves in India’s T20 WC
According to the latest report, the Indian team management has included pacers Umran Malik and Mohammed Siraj as reserve players for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022. Jasprit Bumrah is struggling with a back injury and is doubtful for the mega tournament in Australia. The reported inclusion of Umran and Siraj to reserves further suggests that India will travel to Australia without Bumrah.
Apart from Bumrah, India have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel as their specialist pace bowlers with Hardik Pandya as a batting all-rounder. India also have two specialist pace bowlers in form of Deepak Chahar and Avesh Khan already in the reserves.
Indian bowlers had poor outings at the 2022 Asia Cup where they failed to reach the finals after defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Most recently, India managed to win against Australia by 2-1 in the three-match T20I series at home but it was not a convincing performance from the bowlers. Notably, in the first T20I in Mohali, Indian bowlers failed to defend a 209-run target and came under criticism ahead of the upcoming World Cup in Australia next month.
Umran Malik and Mohammed Siraj set to travel with team:
According to RevSportz, both Umran and Siraj will travel with the Indian team for Australia. Shami is yet to recover from the Covid-19 virus and Bumrah has been replaced by Siraj for the ongoing T20I series against South Africa. Siraj struggled for consistency in the Indian Premier League 2022 (IPL) season with only nine wickets in 15 matches at a poor economy rate of 10.06 and is unlikely to progress to the main squad.
Umran, 22, took 22 wickets in just 14 matches in the IPL 2022 season and made his T20I international debut against Ireland in June. But he failed to make an instant impact and has taken only two wickets in three T20Is at a poor economy rate of 12.44 so far. Umran also struggled for the wickets against New Zealand A squad this month and it’s inclusion for the reserves surprises many.
