Mohammed Siraj replaces injured Jasprit Bumrah for South Africa T20I series

With pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of the remaining two T20Is against South Africa, Indian national selectors have named Mohammed Siraj as the replacement for remainder of the series. The selectors, however, haven’t ruled Bumrah out of the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 which will take place in Australia from next month.

“The All-India Senior Selection Committee named Mohd. Siraj as replacement for injured Jasprit Bumrah for the remainder of the T20I series against South Africa. Bumrah has sustained a back injury and is currently under the supervision of the BCCI Medical Team,” a BCCI statement read on Friday (September 30).

NEWS : Mohd. Siraj replaces injured Jasprit Bumrah in T20I squad. #TeamIndia | #INDvSA

More Details https://t.co/o1HvH9XqcI — BCCI (@BCCI) September 30, 2022

India squad for South Africa T20Is

Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj

India will take on South Africa next in the second T20I in Guwahati on Sunday (October 2). Rohit Sharma’s side lead the series 1-0 after their eight-wicket win in the first game in Thiruvananthapuram.

A BCCI official told news agency PTI that Bumrah will be forced out of action for six months due to the back injury. “Bumrah is not going to play the T20 World Cup for sure. He has a serious back condition. It’s a stress fracture and he could be out for a period of six months,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

It is understood that either Deepak Chahar or Mohammed Shami could replace Bumrah in the main squad. Both were named as stand-by players for the prestigious tournament by the BCCI.

Bumrah, who played the second and third T20 against Australia, didn’t travel with the team to Thiruvananthapuram for the series-opener against South Africa. With Shami yet to recover from COVID-19 and already ruled out of the T20I series and replaced by Umesh Yadav, the selectors had no choice but to bring in Siraj for the remaining T20I games against the Proteas.

However, it will be interesting to see who among Shami, Chahar and Siraj will be picked as replacement if Bumrah is indeed ruled out of the T20 World Cup 2022.