MELBOURNE: Rohit Sharma, India’s captain, stated on Saturday that India has the bench strength to cover for the absence of its injured stars when its T20 World Cup campaign gets underway against archrivals Pakistan.
Mohammed Shami has been joined to India’s 15-man squad for the renowned competition in Australia that gets underway on Sunday in lieu of pace king Jasprit Bumrah, who is out with back issues.
A critical all-rounder named Ravindra Jadeja is also out of the game due to injury, but Rohit insisted that the squad can still handle the task with the personnel it currently has.
“In any sport, injuries are a given. Injuries will arise if we play too many games, therefore for the past year, our focus has been on improving bench strength “In Melbourne, Rohit Sharma spoke to the media at a news conference.
“We want to give them an opportunity and try to set up back-ups. We’ve played enough games with the bowlers who came with us to the World Cup.”
India will play Pakistan on October 23 in Melbourne as part of their campaign opener. India last claimed a major title with their Champions Trophy triumph in 2013.
Shami, 32, was substituted in at the last minute after the team waited for him to recover from COVID, which prohibited him from participating in the series at home against Australia and South Africa.
