Indian skipper Rohit Sharma opened up about the injuries to their key players ahead of the next WTC cycle starting today. The Men in Blue will be without the services of Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul, who will miss out on the tour due to an injury.
Team India has struggled with a spate of injuries in recent months, which include Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Prasidh Krishna, all of whom are expected to miss most of the 2023 cricket season. In recent months, the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, and Washington Sundar had to spend a good amount of time at the NCA due to their persistent injury issues.
Speaking to the media ahead of the 1st test, Rohit Sharma ruined the absence of more genuine fast bowlers in the Indian cricketing setup, as they are a lot of pacers on the Indian side being injured at the same and said that it is important to manage the fast bowlers and revealed that it was the reason behind resting Mohammed Shami for this tour.
“We’ve seen that the pacers have taken a lot of wickets here. But it is what it is. Players get injured and we have to rotate them, unfortunately. We don’t have an abundance of pacers. In India, there are a lot of bowlers who are injured. The ones we have, we need to manage them. Which is why our experienced bowlers couldn’t come on this tour,” Rohit Sharma said.
Indian primary pacer Mohammed Shami had requested the Indian selectors and team management to keep him fully fit for the Asia Cup 2023 and ODI World Cup 2023. The right-arm pacer has been playing cricket continuously since the start of the Border Gavaskar Trophy this year and India has rested Shami for the series against West Indies to manage his workload.
Jaydev Unadkat Isn’t New, He Made His Debut 10-12 Years Back – Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma expressed his confidence in the Indian pacers Jaydev Unadkat and Mukesh Kumar having performed for the team in the domestic cricket and reckons that these pacers have done exceptionally well for the India A and Zonal games.
“Jaydev (Unadkat) isn’t new, he made his debut 10-12 years back. Mukesh Kumar has performed consistently in domestic cricket. He has done well for his state as well as in zonal games and for India A. We’ll see the combination we need to pick,” Rohit Sharma added.
Jaydev Unadkat has been one of the top performers in Indian domestic cricket over the last few years. The Left arm pacer was one of the five specialist pacers selected in India’s 15-man squad for the World Test Championship final, but the Indian management picked Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur over him against Australia and he is expected to be part of the playing 11 for the West Indies tour.
Mukesh Kumar had a successful time recently, with terrific performances for India A and the Rest of India in the Irani Trophy he was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the series against New Zealand A. He can be more vital for the Indian team in red-ball cricket with his experience in domestic cricket can come in handy for the Indian team in the upcoming series.