'World Cup is important, but his career is more important to us' - Rohit Sharma on Jasprit Bumrah's absence

The T20 World Cup 2022 is all set to kick-start on Sunday, October 16, and a total of 16 teams will be fighting to get their hands on the prestigious trophy. The teams announced their final squads on Friday, October 14, and a few of them made some changes to their roster. As for India, Mohammed Shami was named as the official replacement for Jasprit Bumrah in the 15-man squad.

India kept the remainder of the squad unchanged but named Mohammad Siraj and Shardul Thakur as reserves, who will be joining the Men in Blue in Australia. Siraj put up a series of impressive performances in the games against South Africa which earned him a spot, and so was the case with Shardul Thakur.

Bumrah's absence will be felt: Sharma

Ahead of the opening day of the World Cup first-round games, all 16 captains addressed a press conference, and Rohit Sharma, the Indian skipper, spoke about Bumrah’s injury as he said:

“He's a quality bowler. He has been doing good for us for so many years. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, injuries happen. It's not in your hands. We spoke to many specialists about his injury, but there was no good response. Yes, this World Cup is important, but his career is more important to us. He is just 27 or 28, and has a lot of cricket ahead of him in the future. We can't take the risk, and that is what the specialists told us. He'll play a lot more and win a lot many matches for India. But yes, his absence will be felt.”

Jasprit Bumrah had missed the Asia Cup earlier this year, but he returned for the bilateral series against Australia. During the T20I series at home, he injured himself again, and was ruled out of the South Africa T20I series which followed next. He was then taken to the NCA for his rehabilitation.

His stress fracture made him rule out of the marquee event, and India's woes deepened as before Bumrah, Jadeja had been ruled out of the tournament owing to the injury. With Mohammed Shami coming in as Bumrah's replacement, the Indian management and skipper would look to putting his experience and expertise to the best use.