BCCI president Ganguly breaks silence on Bumrah’s availability for T20 World Cup

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has denied reports about Jasprit Bumrah being ruled out of the T20 World Cup.

It was reported on Thursday that the premier Indian pacer will miss the marquee tournament with a ‘back stress fracture’, but Ganguly has insisted that Bumrah is still in the reckoning to board the flight to Australia.

“No. Bumrah is not out of the World Cup yet. Let’s see what happens,” Ganguly told RevSportz in a video posted on its Twitter account. “Fingers crossed. I don’t know (if he will travel to Australia). We will find out in 3-4 days. We have got our fingers crossed. Don’t rule him out yet,” Ganguly said.

Earlier, it was reported that Bumrah could miss months of cricketing action due to the back injury. The Indian fast bowler was also forced to miss the 2022 Asia Cup, and had made a comeback in India’s T20I series against Australia earlier this month. Bumrah was also named in the side’s squad for the series against South Africa, which was India’s final T20I assignment before the World Cup that starts on October 22.

The 28-year-old pacer is widely considered as one of the fiercest fast bowlers in modern-day cricket, and India will be hoping for Bumrah’s miraculous recovery for the T20 World Cup. The pacer is a part of the four-man fast-bowling attack in the marquee tournament, that also includes Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshal Patel. Additionally, right-arm fast bowlers Mohammed Shami and Deepak Chahar are included in the standbys for the T20 World Cup.

Ganguly’s optimism over Bumrah’s injury situation comes as a respite for Indian cricket fans who have already endured a setback in Ravindra Jadeja’s injury earlier this month. The Indian all-rounder had faced a knee injury in the Asia Cup that had ruled him out of the global tournament in October-November. However, Axar Patel has delivered consistent performances in Jadeja’s role in India’s recent T20I outings against Australia and South Africa.

Bumrah has hardly featured in India’s T20I outings since the side’s return to action after the 2022 Indian Premier League. The pacer has played in only 3 T20Is (1 against England, 2 against Australia) out of 24 so far. Hence, being forced to miss Bumrah at the T20 World Cup is also expected to be a severe blow to BCCI’s workload management policy.