T20 World Cup: Bumrah’s absence will make teams reconsider batting plans against India, feels Bangar

Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness has been a major cause of concern for the Indian team in recent months and his injury-forced exit from the T20 World Cup comes as a massive blow to the Men in Blue’s hopes of ending a nine-year wait for an ICC trophy.

According to former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar and South African pace legend Dale Steyn, Bumrah’s exit will certainly have an impact on rival teams, who will likely reconsider their batting approach against the 2007 T20I world champions.

“It comes as a huge blow because an Indian attack without Jasprit Bumrah means that a lot of teams will start thinking differently as to how they would approach their batting against the Indian bowling attack,” Bangar said on Star Sports’s Cricket Live show.

Steyn, South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in Tests and the second-highest in T20Is, felt Bumrah’s replacement in India’s World Cup squad would have some pretty big shoes to fill, given the amount of responsibility that Bumrah carries on his shoulders as the leader of the attack and their best bowler.

“Whoever gets selected, you probably want them to raise their game by a small percentage because of the hole that they are filling. Somebody like Bumrah, it’s so difficult to fill his place. He is such a world-class player. India will miss him tremendously in this World Cup,” Steyn said.

Bumrah, a primary pace option across formats for his country as well as for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, was ruled out of ICC’s showpiece T20 event earlier this month due to a back stress fracture, having only recently made his comeback from a long injury layoff during the T20I series against Australia last month.

Read: Timeline of Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness issues before getting ruled out of T20 World Cup

Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Deepak Chahar are among the front-runners to take Bumrah’s spot in the India squad.

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