Days after the Asia Cup debacle, Team India finds some respite as Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel are set to return for the T20 World Cup. Both didn’t feature in the Asian multi-nation tournament due to injuries. While Harshal suffered a side strain, Bumrah was out of action since July due to a back injury. The BCCI announced that the duo is under rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. But now, they seem to have regained fitness and are ready to make a comeback.
Bumrah and Harshal have bowled normally at the NCA recently and have finished their rehab. However, in order to accommodate them, two places are required to be vacated.
The current Asia Cup squad initially had three spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi. Jadeja eventually got ruled out with a knee injury and was replaced by Axar Patel. Similarly, four pacers were named in the beginning. The quartet included Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya. Later, Deepak Chahar replaced Avesh but the former’s inclusion came after India were knocked out of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Jadeja is completely out of reckoning as he recently underwent knee surgery. Axar could be an automatic selection but then again, the selectors will have to deal with Deepak Hooda.
The selection committee might be meeting on September 15 to select India’s squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia, which is starting from October 16 and ending on November 13.
