World Cup T20: Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel are fit; who would make it to the team?

As the duo was under rehab at the National Cricket Academy, they seem to have recovered and regained fitness to make a comeback for the Men in Blue. They are all available for selection in the upcoming T20 World Cup. 

Report said, “It has been learnt that the two have regained their full fitness and bowled normally at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). The two pacers are believed to have completed their rehab and are ready to make [a] comeback.” 

To make their place in the squad, two places in the playing XI must be vacated.

India included four spinners in the Asia Cup squad, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi and Ravindra Jadeja, who got injured and was replaced by Axar Patel. Similarly, there were four pacers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya. Among them, Avesh Khan got replaced by Deepak Chahar owing to illness.

Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi are likely axed in the most probable scenario. If Ravindra Jadeja doesn’t recover, then Bishnoi might stay in his place. And we might see Deepak Chahar also being dropped or being kept in reserves. Heavy criticism on the non-selection of Mohammad Shami in the Asia Cup and his fantastic records on Australian pitches has popped his name in selectors’ minds for consideration. 

According to reports, with a lot to address from the observations in the Asia Cup, the selection committee might meet on 15th September to select India’s squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia, which will commence on 16th October. 

India will host Australia for the three-match T20I series and South Africa for the three-match T20I series, followed by the ODI series. 

Like all previous tours, management is likely to experiment a little with players, keeping in mind the workload and avoiding any injuries before the big tournament. 

But one thing will be sure: Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel will be seen in action against the best team before the World Cup starts.