IND vs PAK: We Have Heard About Him Till Now, He Has Had Good Bowling Sessions - Indian Skipper Rohit Sharma Says About Mohammed Shami

The T20 World Cup Qualifiers will begin with the match between Namibia and Sri Lanka on Sunday, October 16. The Super 12 stage will begin with hosts Australia facing off against New Zealand on October 22. Team India reached Australia and they played two practice games against Western Australia XI. The team will face Australia and New Zealand in official warm-up games before taking on Pakistan on October 23.

Mohammed Shami has replaced injured fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah in India’s 15-man World Cup squad for the upcoming ICC World T20 2022 on Friday, October 14. Bumrah was ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to a back injury. Shami arrived in Australia ahead of India’s warm-up matches and is set to join the Indian camp in Brisbane.

There Is No Point Of Talking About It Every Time – Rohit Sharma

Ahead of the start of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, all 16 skippers addressed a press conference on Saturday, October 15, and Rohit Sharma, the Indian skipper, spoke about his side’s preparations and the high-voltage match against Pakistan.

“We understand the game against Pakistan, but there is no point of talking about it everytime and creating that pressure within yourselves. Whenever we meet against the Pakistan players, we talk about how they are, how the families are. We just talk about what is going on, how is life and what new car they have bought or they are about to buy,” said Rohit during the media session.

We Have Tried Really Hard To manage Our Players – Rohit Sharma

Mohammed Shami was named as the replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah, and Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj were also named as backups on Friday. Indian skipper Rohit stated that he hopes to see Shami during Sunday’s practice session in Brisbane.

“Injuries are part and parcel of the sport, there is nothing much that can be done about it. If you play these many games, injuries are bound to happen. That is why our focus over the last year was to create bench strength and wherever we got the opportunity, we gave younger guys a go. As far as Shami goes, he tested positive for COVID-19 2-3 weeks back and he was there at his farm, he then went to NCA and did his rehab there. He is there in Brisbane right now,” said Rohit.

“The Indian team will reach Brisbane from Perth, we have a practice session tomorrow. He will practice with the team, whatever we have heard about Shami till now, it has been positive. He has had good 3-4 bowling sessions. But again, when it comes to injuries, we have tried really hard to manage our players in the last 1-2 years. But it is unfortunate and you cannot do much about it. This is the reason we wanted to create bench strength,” he added.

Unfortunately Injuries Can Happen – Rohit Sharma

Jasprit Bumrah returned for the bilateral series against Australia after missing the Asia Cup earlier this year. He was injured again in the T20I series at home, missed the South Africa T20I series and was ruled out of the World Cup due to a back injury.

When asked Bumrah, Rohit said: “He is a quality bowler, unfortunately injuries can happen. You cannot do much about it, we talked to a lot of specialists about his injury, but no good response came from them. World Cup is important, but his career is more important to us. He is just 27-28 years old and there is a lot of cricket ahead of him. We cannot do risk like that, and the specialists also advised the game. We will miss him, there is no doubt about it.”

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