Former India cricketer Suresh Raina feels that replacing players like Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja is not easy for any team. India suffered a double blow ahead of T20 World Cup as two of their star players Bumrah and Jadeja sustained big injuries and were ruled out of the mega ICC tournament. Mohammed Shami has been included in India’s squad as Bumrah’s replacement at the last minute. The selectors took their time and Shami won the race between him and Mohammed Siraj.
While Axar Patel has been picked as a like-to-like replacement for Jadeja. The left-arm spinner justified his selection with a consistent show with the ball in the T20I matches against Australia and South Africa ahead of the T20 World Cup.
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Raina claimed that Shami is not the perfect replacement for Bumrah as according to the former India batter one can not replace him
“I would not call him a perfect replacement because you cannot replace Jasprit Bumrah or Ravindra Jadeja. They have played consistently for India and they have given performances," Raina told NDTV.
Shami proved the selectors’ decision right with a match-winning final over against Australia in the warm-up match of the T20 World Cup. He defended 12 runs and claimed three wickets to silence his critics.
Shami, who last played a competitive game in July and landed here after suffering a long bout of COVID-19, turned up to bowl the last over of the game and made a decisive impact on the game.
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He landed yorker after yorker and ended up with three wickets in the over beside a run-out.
However, Raina feels that the selectors picked the best option they had and hailed the BCCI for sending the Indian team 15 days prior to T20 World Cup to get used to the Australian conditions.
“But the best option you had, you have selected him. Shami has given good performances, he has been in good form. BCCI have done really well in sending the team to Australia 15 days prior to the tournament. The grounds are big, overall I think the preparation has been nice. We will need to play fearless cricket and show good intent," he added.
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