Why Bumrah is not playing today: India won the toss and opted to field against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2022 match in Melbourne.
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India and Pakistan are up against each other in the Super-12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field first, where he said that the overcast conditions will help the seamers, and they would want to take advantage of it.
“We are going to field first. Looks like a good pitch, it’s always nice to bowl with overcast conditions. Think the ball will swing around a bit, and we need to take its advantage,” Rohit Sharma said to the broadcaster.
Babar Azam also said that he would have bowled first as well and wished to score around 160-170 runs. Shan Masood is fit to play, and Shaheen Afridi is also back in the team.
Why Bumrah is not playing today
Rohit Sharma disclosed the team combination at the toss, where he confirmed that the team is playing with two spinners and three pacers plus Hardik Pandya. Some of the members pick themselves, and there was a fight for just 2-3 positions. Dinesh Karthik, Mohammed Shami and R Ashwin have been preferred over Rishabh Pant, Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Ahead of the tournament, India received a major blow when ace Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to a back injury. Bumrah missed the Asia Cup as well, but he made a return later on. However, he got injured yet again and was ruled out of the mega event in Australia. Mohammed Shami came into the team as Bumrah’s replacement only.
Harshal Patel has been one of India’s important death bowlers, but he has failed to impress with his performances. He has played 21 T20Is this year, where he has scalped 22 wickets at an expensive economy of 9.40. Harshal has been really poor at the death, and the slower balls may not work in Australian conditions.
Mohammed Shami has been bought in the side, and the way he bowled at the death against Australia in the warm-up match was an exciting watch. Shami looked excellent in training in well, and maybe Shami’s experience was given priority.
Rishabh Pant’s T20I performances in 2022 have not been great. In the practice games in Perth, he was made to open the innings, and he could not deliver there as well. Karthik, on the other hand, has been great as a finisher, and Sunil Gavaskar also said that Pant can only play if Hardik plays as the 5th bowler of the side.
