India head coach Rahul Dravid provides update on Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the ongoing T20I series against South Africa with a back injury which has cast doubt over his participation in the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia.
Bumrah missed the Asia Cup due to the same injury but made his return in the T20I series against Australia. Though he missed the first game, he was available for the final two matches which India won to win the series.
Unfortunately, ahead of the first T20I against South Africa, BCCI provided an update that Bumrah complained of back pain during the practice session on Tuesday, thus ruling him out of the first T20I and eventually the series.
Ahead of the second game, Rahul Dravid provided an update on Bumrah in the virtual press conference and said that the ace pacer has gone to the National Cricket Academy.
"As of now, officially he has been ruled out of the T20 series against South Africa," said Dravid. "He has gone to the NCA and we are waiting for an official confirmation on the next steps.
"As of now, officially he is only ruled out of this series, and we will see what happens in the next 2-3 days but once we get an official confirmation, then we will be able to share that."
Quizzed further on the nature of Bumrah's injury, Dravid said, "I don't go deeply into the medical reports, I rely on the experts to tell me what it is.
"They ruled him out of this series and he is being assessed. You will know in due course what happens in the future. Till the time he is not officially ruled out, we will always be hopeful and we will hope for the best."
India fly to Australia on 6 October and will play two warm-up games against Australia and New Zealand ahead of the main tournament. Their T20 World Cup campaign begins on 23 October with the game against arch-rivals Pakistan in Melbourne.