Vijay Shankar is fine now, Jasprit Bumrah says after batsman gets hit by his yorker

India have already seen two important members of their squad getting injured for the ongoing World Cup in England and Wales. While opener Shikhar Dhawan has already been ruled out with a broken thumb, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is also set to miss a few games with a hamstring injury. Virat Kohli’s men had another injury scare when all-rounder Vijay Shankar was struck on his toe by a yorker from Jasprit Bumrah at a practice session. Vijay, who played in the Pakistan game as Dhawan’s replacement and took a wicket in his debut ball in World Cup, was said to be fine.

Bumrah, who impressed with his bowling in this World Cup, appeared at a press conference on Thursday where he spoke on some topics including Dhawan, Shankar, the opening bowlers’ strategies and India’s next opponents – Afghanistan. The Indian spearhead has picked five wickets in three matches so far and will be joined by Mohammed Shami in the next game against the Afghans in Southampton on Saturday.

‘We had to move on’, says Bumrah of injured Dhawan

“It is unfortunate he (Dhawan) is out of the World Cup. He played really good innings against Australia. We are a good side and we are not worried about it. It was an unfortunate incident which happened but we have to move forward,” the 25-year-old said. Speaking about Vijay Shankar’s injury, who was seen limping after getting hit on the toe, Bumrah said it was unfortunate that the batsman got injured but assured that he was doing well.

When asked whether he is having any special plan for the World Cup, Bumrah said he was doing nothing different from his daily rituals. “The best preparation for me is to bowl and that is what I am doing. Personally, for me, it does not mean any difference as three of us are focusing on the game.” Along with Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar and Shami are the three pacers in the World Cup squad.

India have not lost any game in this World Cup so far while they beat South Africa, Australia and Pakistan. Their game against New Zealand was washed out. The Men in Blue now are sitting fourth in the table with seven points in four games.

Their next opponents, Afghanistan, are on the exact opposite end of the spectrum with no win in five games and are out of the semi-final race. Bumrah, who has five wickets so far in the tournament, said his team was not taking anybody lightly and treating all opponents with the same seriousness. India and Afghanistan met each other at the Asia Cup last year and under MS Dhoni’s captaincy, the match had ended in a tie.