Head coach Rahul Dravid remains hopeful of Jasprit Bumrah’s availability for the T20 World Cup beginning in Australia on October 16.
India’s pace spearhead is sidelined again with a recurring back injury, which has cast a cloud over his participation in the World Cup. Dravid, however, doesn’t want to get to a conclusion till there’s an official update on Bumrah, who’s at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore at present to have his condition assessed.
“We are awaiting the official confirmation on the next steps. As of now, Jasprit is officially ruled out of this (South Africa) series. But we will see what happens over the next few days,” Dravid said on the eve of India’s second T20I versus South Africa in Guwahati.
“Honestly, I’ve not gone deeply into the medical reports. I rely on the experts to tell me what it is. They ruled him out for this series and he’s being assessed. We’ll know in due course what happens in the future.
“Obviously, till we get an official confirmation that he’s ruled out (of the World Cup), we will always be hopeful. We will always hope for the best for us as a team and Jasprit as an individual,” Dravid explained.
The head coach, though, is in no mood to complain because of Bumrah’s recurring injury.
“Not everything will be perfect. It (Injury) happens and is part and parcel of the game.
“Obviously, if they happen closer to big tournaments, they can upset your plans a little bit. But everyone is making good efforts to minimise the injuries as much as possible,” Dravid stated.
The team management’s tendency to experiment, especially during the Asia Cup in the UAE, was criticised. But Dravid chose to stay away from the “outside noise”.
“I know there’s a little bit of noise from the outside. But in our group, communication has been very good and there’s clarity,” he said.
“It’s a bit unrealistic to expect us to keep playing the same guys over and over again. We played the same XI against South Africa in June if you remember, and people kept saying, ‘Why don’t they change?’
“But in our group, we’re sure of what we are doing. Sometimes, there are a lot of things people won’t know from the outside. The niggles, how we are going to manage them and how we are preparing for a Test when there’s a series in Ireland... It’s hard to explain,” Dravid added.
According to Dravid, there’s “absolute clarity” on the roles assigned to each of the players in the World Cup-bound squad.